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Video: Automated lamb boning makes for accurate butchering

This is not one of those animal stories with cute photos. But if you're interested in weird technologies that solve problems you didn't know about, this is for you.
Written by Laura Shin, Contributor

Animals. Can't live with 'em, can't live without eating 'em. (Just kidding, vegans!)

Whether or not you do eat them, you certainly don't want to waste any of the precious meat -- and that's what normally happens when a machine, not a human, tries to butcher an animal. After all, each animal is a different size and shape.

Enter Automated Lamb Boning. Developed by Scott Technology LTD, a New Zealand-based lamb exporter, this process uses X-ray technology to measure the inner dimensions of a lamb carcass to make cuts accurate and reduce waste.

Using the X-ray of each carcass, the 100% automated processing plant can adjust its robotic arms, claws, grippers, torso impalers and conveyor belts to make the most accurate cuts.

Watch the video (not for the squeamish) to see how efficiently it produces crown racks, chops and more.

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via: Popular Science

photo: waferboard/Flickr

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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