Robots in Food industry Why Scandinavia's largest insect farm relies on robots

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In Denmark, larva breeding and robot technology combine to create a future-ready solution for global food supply: Enorm Biofactory uses the efficiency of the black soldier fly and the precision of Hygienic-Oil robots from Kuka to produce a climate-friendly protein source.

In a factory hall in the heart of Denmark, 50 kilometers (approx. 31 miles) southwest of Aarhus, a literally moving spectacle can be observed day after day, almost around the clock: Soon millions of fly larvae will devour their food in countless boxes here, while the containers are constantly being moved, stacked, emptied, and filled by quietly humming Kuka robots in the Hygienic Oil (HO) version. Welcome to Enorm Biofactory, Scandinavia's largest and first commercial insect farm!

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Perhaps there will soon be factories like this everywhere. After all, many experts believe that insects are the protein source of the future. The United Nations estimates that the world population will grow to about 9.7 billion people by 2050. As average income is expected to rise in many developing countries, a significant increase in meat consumption and thus protein demand is expected.

Faced with climate change and ever scarcer resources, it is clear that an effective circular economy and sustainable food production are more important than ever. The black soldier fly could play a crucial role in this context - and that's what everything at Enorm revolves around.

From 25 kilograms of eggs, 100 tons of larvae are produced

"Only one gram of black soldier fly eggs equals 30,000 larvae," calculates Carsten Lind Pedersen, CEO of Enorm. "And they gain weight so quickly that 25 kilos of eggs become 100 tons of larvae—in just twelve days! No other animal can do that."

Jane Lind Sam, COO of Enorm, also emphasizes the huge potential of the insect for sustainable protein production: "The larvae of the fly can feed on almost all organic substances. That's why we can feed them with waste products from the Danish food industry that would have been disposed of elsewhere—and turn them into high-quality feed protein for animal husbandry."

Specifically, Enorm produces two products from the fast-growing larvae: insect meal as a replacement for highly digestible protein feed—for fish, poultry, pigs and pets—and immune-stimulating insect oil, which can also be used as a food supplement for various animals. "Ingredients based on larvae of the black soldier fly, produced responsibly, have a significantly lower CO2 footprint compared to other animal protein sources," says Pedersen. Thus, insect production is a prime example of a sustainable circular economy that barely burdens the environment and climate: "In further processing, the larvae are simply dried—so the only thing left over here is water." In addition, some of the larvae are used to produce new eggs—a perfect cycle.

Kuka robots don't break a sweat

Sustainability, because of maximum efficiency, also applies to the production process itself, which, according to Pedersen, brings two major challenges: On the one hand, it requires a complex ventilation system in the factory, because the process generates a lot of heat. "Above all, however, we have to fill, empty and stack extremely heavy containers very quickly," says Pedersen.

We knew that Kuka's flexible Hygienic-Oil robots would be perfect for Enorm's insect farm.

Rolf Tange, CTO Sealing System Group

Finding the best solutions for this was the task of Rolf Tange and his team. Tange is CTO of the Sealing System Group, one of the leading providers of packaging and palletizing solutions, and has relied on Kuka technologies for decades. "We knew that Kuka's flexible Hygienic Oil robots would be perfect for Enorm's insect farm," says Tange. "In the first stage, the larvae grow in smaller, 30 to 40 centimeter boxes," he describes the process. After seven days, they are then transferred to larger boxes, measuring more than one square meter. And at least with these, the robots are indispensable help to any human: "There are 50 kilos of liquid food in there, then 70,000 larvae are tipped on top," Tange says. "Even the fittest worker couldn't handle that weight!"

No problem, however, for the six KR Quantec PA HO from Kuka: every seven seconds they fill a new box, that is 500 per hour—and that 20 hours a day. The facility is cleaned in the remaining four hours. "Without the robots from Kuka, our production would not be possible," says Carsten Pedersen. Especially since he has to rely on them one hundred percent, because the entire process is programmed down to the minute: "If there was a problem with one of the robots, we would only have two to three minutes to solve it - otherwise the entire process would stop. But luckily this hasn't happened yet."

Fully automated plant runs by itself

In principle, the plant runs by itself, Pedersen explains, because the entire process is completely automated: "In fact, we only need two employees to control everything." Their task is largely limited to checking the systems.

The fact that the facility runs so reliably is also due to the good work of the system partner Sealing System. "We have often and successfully worked with Kuka technologies for the food industry," says Kim Kildahl Poulsen, Sales Manager at XIO—Intelligent Farming, Sealing System Group. He particularly appreciates Kuka's extensive portfolio in the Hygienic-Oil robot segment. With their special H1 lubricants in all axes, they meet the high requirements of the food industry along the entire process chain. If the lubricants come into contact with food, this is absolutely safe for humans and animals—as is the case with Enorm.

Despite the vast experience in the food industry, the construction of the facility at Enorm was also somewhat new territory for Sealing System, as Poulsen admits: "In an insect farm, we are dealing with living matter. We had not seen that before." Since the larvae's food consists of 70 percent water, for example, they have to deal with an extremely humid environment in the factory—no problem for the specially designed robots from Kuka.

Software from Visual Components assisted in design and planning

The fact that everything would work so well in the end did not come as a surprise to Poulsen. After all, he and his team were able to test important processes in advance—with Visual Components. The Finnish company, acquired by Kuka, specializes in software solutions for 3D simulation in factory planning. "With the software from Visual Components, we were able to simulate the speed and rhythm at which the robots and conveyor systems need to move. That helped a lot." The programming concept Kuka-App-Tech, which enables efficient and simple robot programming in the shortest possible time, proved to be just as practical.

And so, the larvae and robot work diligently and reliably day in and day out in the heart of Denmark—and with the help of Kuka's innovative technology, they contribute to more sustainable food production.

*Sandra Hirsch is the Global Content Marketing Manager at Kuka. The article was first published on our sisterbrand 'elektrotechnik AUTOMATISIERUNG' (German Edition), Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG 

 (kip)