The role of robots in the food industry: a review

– The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of present‐day and anticipated future applications of robots in the food industry., – The paper discusses the use of robots in the agriculture and farming, processing and packaging and retail sectors of the industry. Examples are given of specific applications and development activities., – Robots are being developed for many agriculture and farming applications but with the exception of milking robots, most still remain at the research/prototype stage. Food processing and packaging is the best developed sector of the industry and most uses entail picking, packing and palletising, although meat cutting is a growing application. Robots are few in the food retail sector although a number of innovative, niche products have recently been launched., – This paper reviews the use of robots throughout the food chain and considers possible future applications.