Seafood processing system and related methods

A system for processing seafood, the system comprising:

• a translatable and rotatable gripping assembly comprising:
• a first plurality of gripper fingers, and
• a second plurality of gripper fingers,
• wherein each of the second plurality of gripper fingers is disposed opposite a respective one of the first plurality of gripper fingers to form an individually controllable gripping unit;
• and
• a vision subsystem configured to make one or more determinations related to controlling the system, the vision subsystem comprising:
• at least one camera configured to capture or generate one or more images of the seafood;
• at least one processor;
• at least one memory comprising non-transient computer readable medium comprising code that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the vision subsystem to:
• cause the at least one camera to capture or generate the one or more images of the seafood;
• analyze the one or more images of the seafood to determine an orientation of the seafood;
• and
• generate at least one indication of the determined orientation of the seafood for use by a control subsystem to generate one or more control signals for at least one of:
• positioning the first gripping assembly such that the individually controllable gripping units are open and disposed in a first position and orientation,
• closing one or more of the individually controllable gripping units by a predetermined amount, and
• performing predetermined amounts of translating and rotating the first gripping assembly from the first position and orientation to a second position and orientation.

A method for processing seafood, the method comprising:

• gripping a first portion of the seafood utilizing a first gripping assembly, the first gripping assembly comprising:
• a first plurality of gripper fingers, and
• a second plurality of gripper fingers,
• wherein each of the second plurality of gripper fingers is disposed opposite a respective one of the first plurality of gripper fingers to form an individually controllable gripping unit;
• utilizing the first gripping assembly to dispose a second portion of the seafood adjacent to a second gripping assembly, the second gripping assembly comprising:
• a first gripping paddle comprising:
• a blower rail extending from an edge of the gripping paddle,
• at least one blower nozzle or blower duct disposed on the blower rail and configured to direct a stream of compressed air, and
• an injector nozzle configured to eject compressed air, and
• a second gripping paddle configured to cooperate with the first gripping paddle;
• directing a stream of compressed air from the at least one blower nozzle or blower duct against the seafood to, thereby, uncurl the second portion of the seafood;
• closing the first and second gripping paddles to grip the uncurled second portion of the seafood, wherein closing the first and second gripping paddles simultaneously causes the injector nozzle to pierce a shell of the uncurled second portion of the seafood;
• rotating the second gripping assembly with respect to the first gripping assembly to, thereby, separate the first portion of the seafood from the second portion of the seafood;
• and
• causing the injector nozzle to inject compressed air into the shell to, thereby, eject meat of the seafood from the shell.