Senior Design Team sdmay19-31 • Multi-Purpose Automated Robotic arM (mpARM)/h3>

Problem Statement

As a result of increasing production costs for food related products in the restaurant industry coupled with work related injuries in the kitchen and a lack of product consistency, both the producer and consumer are negatively affected. Producers are forced to increase costs to deal with an ever-increasing wage as well as covering medical expenses for injuries sustained in the workplace. As costs increase so does the price of the goods the consumer purchases. Consumers must also accept that at times as a result of human error on the cook’s behalf, the food they get might be inconsistent with previous experiences at the same establishment.

To combat this issue automation in the form of a robotic chef will need to be implemented in the workspace. While the end goal is to produce an automated system, which could produce a variety of different menu options, our team will be solely focusing on the production of pancakes as a proof of concept. Equipped with multiple arm utensils coupled with computer vision, this system will be able to perform the same tasks as a human cook and more. An automated cook could work highly efficiently and would require no breaks, not suffer from fatigue and create a consistent product every time. With the implementation of an automated chef arm the cost of labor included in preparing the food could be greatly reduced.

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