New solutions to address sustainability, traceability and food safety
Concrete initiatives and projects capable of generating significant impacts on economic, social and environmental field
Food has always played a central role in our society and, in addition to the nutritional and cultural value, it has increasingly assumed a communicative, sensory and aesthetic value. This change is accompanied by the growing use of new technologies that are revolutionizing the entire Food System, making it increasingly innovative and leading to the development of a new sector: the Food-tech.
Hence the birth of concrete initiatives and projects aimed at developing new solutions to address the issue of sustainability, traceability and food safety, just like those presented by makers, companies, young students and public entities at Maker Faire Rome 2022.
BRILLO: Bartending Robot for Long Lasting Operations
Brillo is a robotic platform able to coordinate the activities related to the management of a bar counter in its multiple aspects of interaction, handling and customization of the services offered.
Thanks to Brillo it is possible to study and understand how to manage the processes of interaction person-robot in a dynamic way, creating a system that is easy and pleasant to use for people. The project addresses the problems related to the modeling of the interaction between user and robotic barista, in terms of customization of interaction.
Interaction with the robot can also take place through a remote control mode that allows you to program Brillo for a new task or help it to reconfigure itself cinematically from a fault situation.
The project, funded by the MISE under the PON I&C 2014-2020 no. F/190066/01-02/X44, is led by Totaro Automazioni s.r.l in collaboration with the ICAROS center of the University of Napoli Federico II.
Food&Spectroscopy: spectroscopy in food safety
The aim of the project is to show an alternative method to control the food production chain, using advanced but non-invasive technologies.
CNR (National Research Council) and ENEA (National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) introduced at Maker Faire Rome 2022, an interactive laboratory to show the potential of spectroscopy in verifying the counterfeiting and the origin of food products, specifically oils and spices.
Spectroscopy, in fact, is a powerful tool to characterize the properties of food raw materials, and the combined and synergistic use of different technologies and advanced data analysis (machine learning) enables a more accurate and sensitive assessment of food safety and traceability.
MiniSweetMaker: the sweet side of automation
A project born to demonstrate how an idea can become reality thanks to the possibilities offered by digital technologies and the mutual exchange of information and knowledge.
MiniSweetMaker is the perfect example of what a Maker can do: from automation implemented through a microcontroller based on Arduino, to 3D printing of components designed ad hoc, passing through the auto production of structural parts and the realization of a gear motor, recovering gears from unused printers.
Another reason, but no less important, for which MiniSweetMaker was born, is to provide a system for the automatic production of fried sweet always on hand.
The project was realized by Gianluca Patrassi, electrical engineer passionate about new technologies, automation, construction and sweets of course!
ARDU-FRIGO: Freeze the energy consumption
ARDU-FRIGO is a device that helps people to use the refrigerator consciously and to save energy. It is applied to the door of the refrigerator and it is able to monitor how long and how many times the appliance is opened during a day.
Based on this data, and through the use of motivational messages that appear on its display and an alarm, ARDU-FRIGO promotes a responsible use of the appliance.
The project was realized using Arduino IoT Oplà Kit, connected to the home Wi-Fi network. The user can then consult the data of the use of the refrigerator in real time through the ADF app that communicates with ARDU-FRIGO thanks to Arduino IoT Cloud.
The device was created by young students of the secondary school of Carimate (CO), who shared their skills and knowledge to design, create and present this project during the tenth edition of Maker Faire Rome.
The Future of Food Production
How can food be produced in the future? What commonalities does it have with future space food?
Giorgia Pontetti, electronic and astronautic engineer with a strong passion for nature and technology, told us in her project “The Future of Food Production”, among futuristic hydroponics in modern appliances and a 3D food printer for healthy snacks-on-the-go.
Giorgia believes that agriculture plays a key role in the development of all civilisations and today, considering pollution, climate change and overpopulation, she thinks we need to develop alternative methods of food production that do not compromise the functioning of ecosystems.
Among the projects presented at the MFR 2022: “RobotFarm”, the greenhouse in the size of a washing machine; “Hydrowall”, a vertical farm in the size of a planter; “Sole”, a ground-based demonstrator rack cabinet for future space greenhouses and “RobotLamp”, a new generation LED lamp to grow everywhere. But this is not all, because the project also includes a 3D food printer for nutraceuticals, vitamins and antioxidants products, starting from fresh raw materials or from waste from agri-food processing.
PuroSole
A project realized by Digitarch Far, which uses direct solar radiation to power coffee roasting systems, cook food and illuminate environments.
All the applications presented are based on the use of proprietary heliostats designed, built and marketed by Digitarch Farm: totally autonomous devices that concentrate the reflected light of the sun in fixed directions, allowing to obtain high levels of energy.
The company created an innovative coffee roasting systems through the concentrated use of sunlight, that can be sized to roast from a few ounces of coffee up to over 100 kg of coffee every hour.
PuroSole also showed at MFR 2022 a food cooking system and a room lighting system that uses only sunlight as an energy source.
EveryBot Tender
The mission of this project, presented at Maker Faire Rome 2022, is to make a simple order in a bar a futuristic and avant-garde experience.
EveryBot Tender is a robotic system consisting of: a robotic manipulator, a bar counter for the production of Foods&Drinks and a smartphone application to place orders.
The system works as follows: the customer orders the desired drink and/or food through his smartphone and he receives a booking number of the order with the relevant QR code and the tax receipt. All orders are managed by the system in order to communicate them sequentially to the manipulator. The manipulator prepares the desired order and collects it in the delivery table section.
At this point the application, through a notification, informs the customer that the order is ready for collection. Thanks to the QR code received, the customer will be able to open the delivery counter and pick up the order.
The project was carried out by EveryBotics, a spin-off of the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, whose activities are based on robotics, control software and ICT applications. Its team includes university professors and researchers with experience in software development and robotic applications.
Maker Faire Rome – The European Edition has been committed since its very first edition to make innovation accessible, usable and profitable for all. This blog is always updated and full of opportunities and inspiration for makers, makers, SMEs and all the curious ones who wish to enrich their knowledge and expand their business, in Italy, in Europe and beyond.
Subscribe our newsletter: we will select and share the most valuable information for you
