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Artificial Milk Production - (How it's Made: "Infant" Formula)
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Robots may soon nurse infants or adults if so inclined. One solution to achieve
this future is to make robots dispense milk formula. In this document, I explor
e a trade-off between simplicity (a robot that mixes water and pre-bought formu
la) and availability (a static Infant Formula-producing plant).

General Process ---------------------------------------------------------------
    (1) Base liquid (milk, water) is gathered, flash pasteurized, and heated.
    (2) Powdered ingredients are added to the heated liquid. 
   ((3) The mix is homogenized through a high pressure homogenizer.)
    (4) The mix is heat sterilized and pasteurized.
    (5) The milk is served. In regular manufactures, it is instead spray dried 
        and then packed for distribution. 
        
General Design ----------------------------------------------------------------
    
     \    (1)  /    __________                   (1) intake funnel
      \       /    (very cool!)    _____         (2) heating unit
       \     /               \|   [\    | (6)    (3) high pressure homogenizer
        \   /                 \ 0-- ) ^ |)--0        ("midsection") + heat
         | |                      ( )   |                            sterilizer
       --\ |-----___               \ \|/         (4) storage tanks
     /    \/        \__    ___ ____/_/_          (5) multi-function grippers
    (     (  (2)     \ \---    \      ^\     p   (6) MPU (main processing unit)
    (     (           |  (3)    |    _/\     l
     \     \         / \ _______|    \  )  (==
      \_____\_______V|  |   \|  \|   |\ \  /==
       ====\===\ __| \  |    |   |   | \ \/ |
         |  |  |/  \    |   /   /     \ \ \/   
         |  |  | \  \   |  |   |  (4)  | \ \______  __
          \__\__\ \__\__|  \___\_______/  \_____(C0(__ (5)            

    Note that the interior of the robot, after flash pasteurization, is sterile
and unexposed to the exterior through the use of one-way valves. Steps (2-5) ar
e carried out in a sterile environment. Nonetheless, the interior should be eas
ily accessible to an operator for maintenance/cleaning/sterilizing. 

Powdered ingredients to feed the robot with -----------------------------------
    Step (2) involve adding (powdered) ingredients to the heated liquid.
    These include:
        milk protein - extracted from cow milk. Whey, casein, peptides.
        HMOs         - Human Milk Oligosaccharides. Artifical ones include, 
                       e.g., 2′-Fucosyllactose and Lacto-N-Neotetraose  
        vitamins     - if heat sensitive, added once temperature is low
        minerals     - include potassium, sodium, and oligoelements
        special mix  - special flavors optionally included to encourage intake
                       e.g. chocolate, strawberry, hazelnut, coffee, rich cream

Appendix: Human milk composition ----------------------------------------------
    There is actually two kinds of human milk. During the first few days after
birth, human mammary glands produce the colostrum, which is 
        - poor in lipids
        - poor in lactose (sugar made of galactose and glucose)
        - rich in protein
        - rich in vitamin A 
        - rich in minerals
    After a few days, mammary glands produce maternal milk, which is rich in la
ctose and free fatty acids, which helps cover the infant's energetic needs. Thi
s is the milk we are interested in. In the first few months, this milk can be s
ubstituted with "1st age formula" (0 to 4 months) if the mother cannot lactate.
    Note that there is NO perfect substitute for human breast milk (for infants
). Human breast milk contains thousands of bioactive substances difficult to re
produce artificially. However, male adults may complement artificial breast mil
k on their own with a balanced diet.

Sources -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    doi: 10.3390/nu10091161, 10.3345/cep.2020.00059
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