This aim of this final report was to develop technology for automatic grading and packing of prawns. We have demonstrated the technical feasibility, and indicated the economic feasibility, of automatically producing single-layer 'consumer' tray packs of prawns so that, in every tray, each prawn has approximately the same mass, faces the same direction and is approximately straight.

The technology we have developed requires that prawns of mixed grade and haphazard orientation arrive on a conveyer in such a way that adjacent prawns generally do not touch each other. We understand from industry sources that existing technology is available to satisfy the input requirement.