Design and prototype of a robotic system to avoid food security risk inCOVID-19 like situations

In the new reality of COVID-19 pandemic, contactless cooking and serving in food industry becomes a new
essential prospect to reduce virus transmission by reducing human labor and human-food interaction. The goal
of this project is to develop an intelligent robot system to manipulate tools and food items in a restaurant counter
and kitchen environment to automate preparation of some basic dishes to serve. The main design challenges are
(1) development of a reliable intelligent robot manipulator system for transportation of tools and food items in the
workplace, (2) intelligent perception and decision for localization and classification of key objects in the workplace,
(3) reliable efficient task execution planning, (4) integration of collision avoidance in the task environment, and (5)
integration of artificial intelligence to adapt the robotic system to new tasks and conditions. For the partner
organization, Business Innovation Labs, the project will produce intellectual property and products needed by
Canadians and the world market.

Faculty Supervisor:

Baris Fidan;William Melek

Student:

Nasrettin Koksal

Partner:

Business Innovation Labs

Discipline:

Engineering - mechanical

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Waterloo