The global food supply chain is highly susceptible to spoilage and contamination risks, posing severe health hazards to consumers. This creates the need for preservation and safety-monitoring methods to reduce the exposure of both industries and consumers to these risks. Recent innovations using functional materials to construct nano- and microrobots of different shapes and sizes show substantial improvements in optimizing various food processes. Here we review the benefits of applying autonomous functional microrobotics to food science and technology, focusing on applications in food safety control, preservation and processing. We identify current limitations specific to each application and general constraints that must be overcome to transition from proof of concept to real-world implementation in the food industry.

Advanced Nanorobots and Multiscale Robotics Lab Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science VSB Technical University of Ostrava Ostrava Czech Republic

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Yonsei University Seoul Korea

Department of Medical Research China Medical University Hospital China Medical University Taichung Taiwan

Future Energy and Innovation Laboratory Central European Institute of Technology Brno University of Technology Brno Czech Republic

School of Biomedical Engineering Peruvian University of Applied Sciences Prolongación Primavera Lima Peru

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