Agricultural robotics: Denso with case study
At present, there is a lot to be said for the success of agricultural robotics, whatever form it may take. Be it robots in open spaces, as we know them, or also in vertical farming. Open-field robotics will benefit from the general labor shortage or the quest for wage equity. For example, African harvest workers in Italy receive only 3 euros/hour. The question is how long such compensation will be accepted by society.
Patience is required
It is likely to be a few years before there is really big demand for robotics in agriculture (milking robots have been around for a long time). But for sales forecasts beyond 2025, the market could become interesting. Recently, however, there have been setbacks: The application for approval of autonomous tractors in California was rejected for the time being. (Instead, autonomous cabs are now allowed to transport passengers there).
Classical agriculture vs. vertical farming
While the success of robotics in agriculture may only be a matter of time, it does not seem certain today which form of agriculture will prevail in the long term: Traditional farming, which is land-intensive but in areas like Upper Bavaria shapes the cultural landscape, or vertical farming. Vertical farming is extremely homogeneous and delimited and therefore easy for robots to handle. Vertical farming benefits from several factors at once: the desire for regional production, the desire for resource efficiency, and newly also strongly from lower energy costs. Harvest success is likely to be assured here. Storms or drought can be largely ruled out. However, high-rise buildings or buildings as we know them from today's logistics centers have nothing in common with our idea of agriculture. Since the Munich area alone needs 400 wind turbines, this image will have to change anyway. This is the introduction. Now a press release from the Japanese robot manufacturer Denso. Here it concerns a greenhouse, however none as we know it. However, it does not yet meet vertical farming criteria.
Robotics for European tomato cultivation
Robots are a familiar sight in car production. In the future, just such robots could be used for growing and harvesting tomatoes.
The harvesting robot creates the conditions for growing and harvesting fruits such as tomatoes with less human intervention. The robot recognizes the tomatoes, cuts them and places them in transport boxes. Because it uses deep-learning technology, it can gain experience with each use. Moreover, in addition to yields, it also records environmental conditions such as climate, as well as the health of the plants. This enables it to warn of possible virus infections, among other things, and generally help to achieve higher yields.
This intelligent and autonomous harvesting machine is the result of a collaboration between robotics manufacturer DENSO and greenhouse solutions specialist Certhon. The harvesting robot, which has already been tested in Asia, can be part of an autonomous agricultural system that provides the optimal temperature and climate conditions for plant growth, with robots taking over monitoring, harvesting and packaging. Such systems will also be used in Europe in the future. They have the potential to revolutionize the entire food supply and set new standards in terms of sustainability, reliability and efficiency.
The harvesting robot is based on the robotics and automation solutions from DENSO that were developed for industry, e.g. for automotive parts manufacturing. In addition, temperature control systems from DENSO are used here. Their field of application is actually vehicle air conditioning. In this case, however, they are used to control greenhouse temperatures to create conditions in which the plants can grow and the robot can perform its tasks without being affected by weather conditions. The partnership allows DENSO to further develop its technologies together with Certhon's advanced horticultural techniques and cultivation knowledge.
On Vertical Farming, a contribution from Switzerland:
Are we networking? LinkedIn
-> To the Cobot group on LinkedIn (Link) .
In my own account/advertisement
The author of this blog is significantly involved in the AI/robotics project Opdra. He advises on almost all issues related to robotics incl funding/subsidies, but does not go in-depth into the technology. More about him can be found here.