MOZART’s automated handling of fragile, fresh food items was designed from the outset to foster human-robot collaboration. Alongside its technological work, the project brought social sciences and humanities (SSH) research into the same process, studying how automation can work well for the people who use it.

Designing with people in mind

MOZART’s SSH team studied existing research on work in food processing, and spoke with industry experts and MOZART’s own engineers, to understand what automation should change for the people involved. The project prioritised the perspectives of stakeholders across the food industry and paid attention to inclusion across age, technological literacy, educational background, disability and gender. One clear direction emerged: AUTOMAT is designed to let operators move from handling the product themselves to supervising, maintaining and configuring the technology.

Sustainability in all its forms

MOZART pursued sustainability on multiple fronts: addressing labour shortages in food production, helping convert repetitive roles into more knowledge-intensive positions, and freeing up capacity for animal welfare, food safety and quality improvements, while keeping costs under control. Throughout the project, SSH research examined the economic, social and ecological dimensions of automation in the food industry.

Much of this research is shared on Face to Interface, MOZART’s blog exploring interdisciplinary research, human-robot interaction, and the history and future of labour in food processing.

Read Face to Interface – blog