Fishing is an imperative process which sustains the global food market and economy. It is a rigorous practice that requires a lot of manual labor and is also extremely dangerous. Due to the exponential growth in the technological sector, lesser and lesser people are willing to indulge in this business. The procedure of processing the fish is rather long and time consuming – from catching the fish from the ocean to it reaching the restaurants. Sometimes, USA catches the fish, transports it to countries like China or India for processing, and the fish then travels back to America to be presented in the restaurants. The process is not only lengthy, but is also an expense for the fishing companies. hence, robots are being introduced in this industry.
Thus, Taskin Padir, a professor from Northeastern University, is working to reduce this labor required in this business. An associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, Padir, has been selected to build collaborative robots. These robots will play the role of co-workers for the human workers. It will reduce manual labor without replacing the human workforce completely. The aim is to create a safer and more comfortable working zone. This will also increase production through a faster and safer method. These robots are developed after a lot of research, understanding, and testing of technology. In the beginning, the robots will be equipped to test the quality of the fish, judging it by the softness and texture.
“We welcome the idea of bringing automation to our processing plant. It’s often difficult to find employees to work under the conditions we need to maintain to keep the fish fresh,” said John Roberts.
As the Director of Operations at Channel Fish Processing he also explained the working conditions in the factories. He said that the factories are cold and often have ice coating the floors to keep the fish fresh.
Disha Mazumder