Ireland: Robotic barrel unloading system to reduce risk of musculoskeletal injuries

Manually unloading of stacked 60 kg barrels from containers put operators at Midleton Distillery in Ireland at high risk of musculoskeletal injury. With workers’ health and safety as top priority, the company invested in a tailored autonomous mobile robot with AI vision to minimise manual handling while keeping a human-in-command approach. As a result, the barrel unloading process has seen a 100 % reduction in accidents.

Midleton Distillery is one of the winning examples of the 16th Healthy Workplaces Good Practice Awards competition, which recognises successful prevention and management of risks linked to digitalisation in the workplace.