Abstract
Deformable object manipulation remains a major challenge in robotics due to unstructured shapes, complex surface textures, and highly variable mechanical properties. Fish entrails represent an extreme case of such objects, exhibiting substantial biological variability, high fragility, and slippery, poorly defined contact conditions. This paper explores the development and testing of robotic handling of cod innards, specifically focusing on liver, roe, and milt. The study enhances the knowledge base on handling innards and further explores the possibility of using rudimentary and readily available robotic grippers to validate the feasibility of automation for these delicate tasks. The experiments demonstrated high success rates for roe and substantial improvement under teleoperation for liver, while milt handling revealed clear mechanical limitations. Liver handling presented variable success, while milt handling highlighted the need for specialized grippers due to its slippery nature. Roe handling proved to be robotically successful, and represents an immediately viable automation candidate (572 runs were recorded.) The findings suggest that further development of customized grippers and control algorithms could enable a wider application of robotic systems in the seafood industry, leading to increased productivity, a more consistent product quality, and improved health, safety, and environment (HSE). This paper provides practical insights and foundational data for future advancements in robotic automation for seafood processing/handling of innards. (Video compilation from experiments at: bit.ly/GutOutMov, raw data results: bit.ly/GutOutRawData.)