John Dee Knife Sharpen Vision Tools

Summary

​Background
Knives are the main tool for most of the food industry. Knife sharpness affects many aspects of quality and personnel safety. Issues of availability of trained personnel and the cost of training new personnel to understand and perform knife maintenance are increasing.
Research - automated sharpening
Project P.PSH.0373 investigated automating the process of knife maintenance and at the same time addressing savings in labour costs.
To this end trials were conducted to look at different options for:Sharpness assessment. i.e. can camera and computers assess sharpness.Shape assessment. i.e. can camera profile shape of knife.
The results of the trials were used to determine if cameras and other computerised sensing could detect the condition of the knife blade with the expectation that such information would be used to robotically sharpen the blade an appropriate amount.
Outcomes - automated sharpening
Various methods of sensing the condition and profile of a knife edge were investigated. It was straightforward to measure the overall profile of a knife using a backlight and machine vision camera. It was also possible to examine the condition of the knife edge in detail using a camera and appropriate lenses to look at a few millimetres of the blade in each image.
The above machine vision methods did not provide a means of measuring the sharpness of the blade, only the profile and smoothness of the edge. By highlighting the edge of the blade, it might be possible – with further investigation – to assess the sharpness to some degree using machine vision.
From these results a completely automated robotic knife sharpening cell is possible assuming that blade edges sustain some visible damage prior to inspection.
In conclusion it was recommended that a better understanding of the measurement requirements of an automated robotic knife sharpening cell must be obtained in order to progress this technology further.
Knife sharpening workshops
In February 2009 MLA offered the opportunity to Australian red meat processors to participate in project P.PIP.0232 in Knife Sharpening. Specifically, MLA proposed to offer processors the opportunity to train their own trainer(s) and supervisors for a site-wide roll out of this new knife sharpening program. This involved training company personnel in how to train employees in steeling and stoning utilising jigs or setters. The training and the roll out utilised the services of a qualified trainer experienced in the NZ knife sharpening program