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THECOMMERCIAL GREENHOUSEGROWER • MAY 2018
• RO"OTS
which for thepurposes of theproject comes fromBosch.
Weight is abig issue, with the 30kgmechanical arm and
30kgplatformproving tobe far tooheavy. Thework is
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still have two years to investigate the concept, which
could even see stabiliser legs added to robotmowers.
The robotic arm alone costs a hefty €30,000, and
researchers have no illusions of the systemgoingon
salewithin the next few years. Instead it is viewed as
aproject to investigate futurepossibilities andgain
fundamental knowledge.
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harvest researchdepartment.Wedidn’t see it but one
of the two large halls contains a 40ft shipping container,
where it is possible to reduce surrounding temperatures
to see how long it is possible to keep fruit and vegetables
freshduring transport.
Another project concerns 3D-imagingof orchids,
somethingwhich a handful of growers are already doing.
The test rig atWUR sees 10 cameras suspended in a
circle, both above andbelow theplant. The image of each
plant, which takes just 0.5 seconds toprocess, provides
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stem length, etc.
Researchers are also looking at a robot to take over the
manual task of sampling apples andpearswhennew
shipments arrive at adistribution centre.
Still at the concept stage, the systemwe sawuses two
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being used for tomatoes, sweet peppers or cucumbers.
The idea is touse it as a stand-alone systemor as a
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apple (could alsohavebeen a tomatoor pepper), and they
are also experimentingwith a gripper arm. The second,
scrutinises the apple’s exterior for blemishes, but is also
able todetect internal defects in apples andpearswithout
touching the fruit. There is still a great deal of work todo,
and at somepoint, itmay evenbe able todetect residues.
Themindboggles.
The robotic arm for theCROPSproject, which ran from2010-2014, was developedbyWUR in conjunctionwith the Technical
University ofMunich, inGermany. (Picture courtesy ofWUR).
Could robots like this be used to sample crops such as
tomatoes and sweet peppers in the future?
