Patent ID: 11944105
Assignee: TYSON FOODS, INC.
Field: Handling (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC A  B  G | IPC A  B  G

Claim 4:
5. An automated computer controlled system for performing a meat cut comprising:
a three dimensional vision system having a three dimensional image capturing sensor configured to capture a three dimensional image of a poultry item with the three dimensional vision system that is coupled to the computer configured with executable program instructions to derive a three dimensional data set from the three dimensional image with an image processing engine processing at a computer and an electronic storage configured to store said data set on an electronic memory of the computer, where the data set is representative of a surface contour, shape, size, geometry, volume, and distinctive local features and structures of the captured three dimensional image of the poultry item;
said computer configured with executable program instructions to categorize parts of the data set based on the distinctive local features and structures, thereby determining a volume classification bin, a location of a keel bone structure, a keel top location, a tender meat portion location, and a tender entry point location adjacent the keel top location;
said computer configured with executable program instructions to determine a cut path based on the data set and the volume classification bin, the keel top location and the tender entry point location; and
a robotic arm and an attached power knife implement communicably coupled with a programmable logic controller having executable program instructions to thereby control and articulate the robotic arm and the attached power knife implement to thereby cause a circular ring shaped annular blade implement of the power knife implement to traverse the cut path thereby severing the tender meat portion away from the keel bone and the boney sheath behind the tender meat portion.