Optimal path planning of a redundant robot in food industry

In food industry, the market demand for product customization is increasing. However, this task is mostly demanded to skilled operators that are very difficult to find in peak production periods. Fortunately, some tasks, such as writing customized text and drawings on food, can be fulfilled by industrial robots. In this paper, we propose to perform such tasks by installing a special equipment (dispenser) off-axis with respect to the last joint of the robot, thus introducing redundancy in the robotic task: by rotating the dispenser along the axis of the nozzle, the same writing point on food can be reached by infinite different robot configurations. A path planning optimization technique that considers redundancy is presented, which allows to minimize cycle time or reduce energy consumption. To validate the method proposed, simulations of text decoration of cakes by a SCARA robot have been carried out.