The evolution of robotics at Marel

For over ten years, Marel robots have reduced labor dependency and increased throughput by taking over the manual tasks of product positioning, packing, and styling into trays. In addition to enhancing efficiency, they also contribute to improved food safety standards. 

Robotics journey

Marel’s robotics journey began in 2014 with the introduction of the RoboBatcher Flex, a ground-breaking robotic solution that automated batch processing in the food industry. Following that first advance, Marel continued to push robotic innovation into the future, adding to the RoboBatcher family with the RoboBatcher Thermoformer in 2017, and RoboBatcher Box in 2019. 
The new gripper technology has expanded the range of products that the robotic arm can handle in the poultry industry. It can now pick up items such as fillets, drumsticks, tenderloins, and legs, each using a specific gripper designed for that product.

Positioning and catch-weight packing

In 2024, the RoboOptimizer advanced food processing robotics from packing to positioning. By accurately aligning each fillet to its optimal and traceable position on the belt, it significantly reduces the need for manual labor. It eliminates loading issues and provides downstream control, ensuring products are efficiently routed to their destinations. This makes the RoboOptimizer especially well-suited for end-to-end optimization of orders for Quick Service Restaurants (QSR).

And now, in 2025, the RoboPacker builds on Marel’s legacy and decades of expertise, taking robotization to the next level and revolutionizing the packing of catch-weight poultry products.
With its vision unit, the RoboPacker detects the dimensions and position of each product, while also estimating its weight. It processes this data to place the product in trays accurately. The robot will style the products in every single tray, offering a range of styling patterns such as yin-yang, fishbone, woven, as well as customer specific. All jobs can be defined and adjusted easily on the HMI that sets new standards controlling and adapting the machine to fit the needs of poultry processors.

Seamless integration

As the trend toward automation continues in the food processing industry, it is essential to ensure that new solutions can integrate seamlessly into existing production lines.
Typically, Marel's robots are not standalone machines; they easily collaborate with other systems in the secondary processing line, such as the I-Cut 122, the SensorX and the LegPositioner. The combination of the RoboBatcher and the I-Cut 122 is commonly referred to as the ‘Robot with a Knife’. This pro-active system calculates and makes intelligent decisions by real-time comparing and controlling incoming product weights and the order recipes. This integration adds value to off-cuts, instead of giving away the overweight. It chooses exactly the fillets which best match the described recipes.

Another collaboration involves the RoboOptimizer and the I-Cut 122. This integration can create a QSR line, which can be configured as either a Cubing Line or a Strips and Sandwiches Portioning Line. Whether it’s breast meat or leg meat, skin-on or skinless, Marel has the QSR solution to add most value by creating perfect fixed-weight whole-muscle fast food. Each individual product gets the right shape and the right weight to pick up the same amount of coating and end up as the perfect QSR product. In these configurations, the robot takes over the manual task of providing the proper infeed for the portion cutter. The robot arm precisely aligns each individual product to its optimal position on the belt, typically saving the effort of two operators on average.

Robots to transform food production 

With the RoboPacker, Marel continues its robotic journey to provide poultry processors with cutting-edge solutions that ensure reliable, careful product handling, adapt to needs, improve operations, and save labor. The RoboBatchers, RoboOptimizer and RoboPacker aren’t just machines; they are part of Marel’s commitment to transforming food production with smarter, more efficient solutions.