Gardening robots

When we think of directions where robotics could be useful, then agriculture is one such niche. And in this direction there are already practical results - the experience of Harvest Automation.

Harvest Automation is a startup founded by ex-employees from iRobot, their goal is to create robot assistants for agriculture, at the moment they already offer a commercial solution for greenhouses that grow pot plants - garden robots HV-100 .
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At first glance, it is not such a difficult task to transfer a pot plant, but in large greenhouses there are millions of pots. And according to the technological process (watering, processing, space for growth, pruning, sorting, selling) it is necessary to move all this quantity - then you will not call it highly intellectual work, it becomes a routine - to transfer 5,000 pots per day

By the way, how did we go to potato harvesting in our student days, in the USA some students are sent for such tasks - rearrangement of pots in greenhouses :).

And it is precisely to solve such problems - the creation of robotic systems by Harvest Automation.

Robots do jobs that people don't want to do.

Robots can autonomously rearrange hundreds of pots from one zone to another - by sorting, or by changing the placement parameters (the distance between the pots).

Here is a video of how it looks in computer modeling:


4 gardening robots at work:




Robots are specially designed to work outdoors .

For the operation of the robot, only a special yellow band detector is needed - relative to which they determine their position.

Greenhouse in Ohio


A small presentation of the robot at the exhibition:


November, Texas, plants are arranged for winter shelter


Florida


Alabama - heat can be below 38 degrees, but for robots this is not a problem.


Maverick, Goose, Cougar and Iceman robots on a smoke break


8 new robots awaiting delivery to customers in North Carolina and Iowa

What is the Garden Robot?

The HV-100 robot consists of:

• A - laser distance meter
• B - line detector
• C - manipulator
• D - start / stop of the robot
• E - electronics unit with user interface
• F - Balance clip

Load capacity of the robot - about 10 kg

Weight: 40 kg.

Operating time: 7-8 hours of battery life (between battery reloads).

Price: $ 30,000 (payback for 12-18 months of use).

Automatic stop during human detection, recognition of a robot neighbor.

Investment and development

Starting in 2010, the startup received about $ 24 million in funding. Since 2013 - the first commercial sales. In 2014, the company plans to enter the European market. At the moment, more than 20 greenhouses are already robotized.

Interview with Joe Jones, CTO, Harvest Automation

This direction is supported not only by business, but also by government: the US Department of Agriculture (The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) in 2013 allocated a $ 4.5 million grant to the tasks of agricultural robotization.

Let's hope that here in Russia, there will be something in this direction.