Bladestop demonstration at Beef Australia

Summary

BladeStop has been developed by Scott Automation and Robotics (SAR) in partnership with Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA). The technology is designed to monitor operator interaction with bandsaws and stop the saw blade before there is opportunity for significant harm to the operator. The technology implements a layer of safety to the dangerous bandsaw tasks performed in processing plants and butcher shops throughout Australia and the rest of the world.

SAR and MLA actively seek to promote the technology to improve awareness and facilitate adoption with an aim to return maximum benefit to the red meat industry. During the week of the 6-12th May 2018 Beef Australia held its national beef expo at the showground arena in Rockhampton, QLD which it holds every 3 years. The showground was setup with a trade fare featuring a wide range of beef industry representative bodies and service providers able to display / showcase information and products relevant to the beef production chain. Bladestop being an important technology for the beef industry as well as a showcase of  successful MLA investment was selected as a technology to be live demonstrated to Beef Australia attendee's.

The BladeStop was setup at site to be able to demonstrate the functionality and response of the Bladestop sensing and stopping mechanism. It gave industry participants an opportunity to see the size, arrangement and function of the BladeStop so that they could form an understanding of its application and importance to the beef production value chain.

The saw ran successfully and a number of live demonstrations were performed during the event. A number of processors, producers and industry dignitaries viewed and gave feedback on the technology, re-enforcing its importance to the safety and viability of the industry and its employees.

It is proposed that the event and the BladeStop demonstrations were both beneficial and successful and it is recommended that this is a worthwhile excessive for similar future events.