Towards intelligent cultivated/cultured meat factories: The synergy of AI, 3D bioprinting and automation in next-gen food manufacturing

Abstract

Global population growth, urbanization, and growing incomes have increased the need for protein, stressing the urgent need for sustainable alternatives to conventional livestock farming, which presents serious ethical, scalability, and environmental issues. Cultured meat, made by culturing animal cells under a controlled environment, is a possible alternative that can lower greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and animal suffering. However, large-scale production of cultured meat with the same texture, structure, and viability as conventional meat remains highly challenging. Even though three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting has become a crucial technique for precisely engineering meat-like, organized tissues, existing systems have hurdles with automation, repeatability, and throughput. The potential of recent (2020–2025) advancements in automation, Machine Learning (ML), and Artificial Intelligence (AI), primarily from the fields of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, is examined in this paper along with its relevancy to large-scale cultured meat bioprinting.AI-driven process optimization, predictive modelling of cell viability and growth, real-time feedback through sensor-based control systems, robotic integration for material handling and post-processing, automated bioreactor integration, and early company adoption of AI and automation are some of the main topics. Research highlights advantages including less trial-and-error, improved accuracy with robotic systems, computer vision-based real-time print adjustments, and closed-loop feedback that requires less human engagement. The groundwork for intelligent, high-throughput "smart bioprinting factories" is laid by these technologies. This analysis maps out a route toward scalable, affordable cultured meat production with significant promise for industrial use and sustainable protein supply by combining advancements in AI, ML, and robotics.