A case study was presented at the cooperative’s plant that paves the way for collaborative industrial models 5.0, which are more efficient, flexible, and focused on people’s well-being.
The testbed was the introduction of a robotic arm with a soft gripper , capable of handling delicate and irregular produce, adjusting its grip according to the characteristics of the vegetable. This innovation reduced errors in the manual sorting phase, ensuring higher quality standards and greater efficiency.
The day opened with a speech by Vittorio Sambucci , Vice President of the Lazio Region’s 8th Permanent Commission on Agriculture and Environment , who stated: “The HARTU project represents a concrete example of how innovation can become a driver of development for our agri-food system. Initiatives like today’s in Sabaudia, in which I participated with interest, confirm Lazio’s ability to serve as a testing ground and a European benchmark for new technologies applied to agricultural production. The Region welcomes initiatives like this, supporting businesses and regions in the transition to more intelligent, sustainable, and human-centered production models . Robotics and artificial intelligence applied to the agri-food sector represent not only technological progress, but a real opportunity to improve the quality of work, the sustainability of processes, and the competitiveness of our businesses. Only in this way can we build an increasingly effective agriculture that is simultaneously respectful of communities and the environment.”
A step forward towards the Collaborative Industry |
|
Coordinated by the Spanish technology center Tekniker , HARTU involves 14 international partners – including companies, universities and research centers – with the aim of developing solutions that make production lines more flexible and efficient thanks to the collaboration between humans, robotics and artificial intelligence. The five case studies analyzed during the project covered different sectors—automotive, household appliances, hand tools, food, and logistics—demonstrating the versatility of the technologies developed. Italy played a leading role thanks to the contributions of Deep Blue , Engineering Ingegneria Informatica , Tecnoalimenti , Politecnico di Bari , and Omnigrasp . The contribution of the Centro Lazio cooperative was crucial , opening the doors of its Sabaudia plant, enabling a real-world case study, initial analysis of working conditions, field validation, and, most importantly, the involvement of end-users. Marco de Vito , Innovation Manager at Tecnoalimenti, a Research and Innovation company for the agri-food sector, underlined: “Thanks to the collaboration with Centro Lazio, we have been able to understand the operational and strategic needs of the sector and have brought the agri-food sector closer to advanced digital technologies .”
|