Belgium
New robot for picking strawberries harvests faster than a human
A new robot for picking strawberries from Octinion, an R & D company from Leuven, was recently unveiled in Hoogstraten. After 2 years of development, the robot was able to pluck strawberries like a human, without damaging the strawberries and without leaving a stalk on the fruit. Moreover, the robot works faster than the best pickers, and can even work through the night.
The strawberry-picking robot was unveiled at the 10th international strawberry mechanisation and demonstration trade fair in Hoogstraten. It concerns a prototype that can pick strawberries completely autonomously. The robot is able to pick 70% of all ripe strawberries without damage, free of stems and without picking part of the plant at the same time. The quality of the harvesting, the picking speed, and the sorting capabilities are comparable to those of experienced pickers, Octinion claims. There are additional benefits in the areas of quality management, crop monitoring and precision farming. There is no need to make structural changes in the greenhouse to use the robot.
3D vision and indoor GPS
The robot is designed for shelf cultivation, a method widespread in Belgium and neighbouring countries. The robot can pick both indoors and outdoors. The device, which looks like a trolley bearing strawberry trays, moves around autonomously using a sort of indoor GPS, because a regular GPS signal does not work properly in a greenhouse. 3D vision is used to locate ripe strawberries. The patented robotic arm moves and picks in the same way as a human. A system to detect and leave rotten strawberries is still under development.
Precision farming
“The unique advantage of the robot is the better quality,” says Tom Coen, CEO of Octinion. “Integrated quality measurement means more accurate sorting is possible. It even allows precision farming by forwarding important information, such as a crop forecast, to the grower. Even the best pickers can’t compete with the robot, which does its work at a constant speed, even at night." The robot’s soft rubber 3D-printed arm picks 24 kilos of strawberries per hour, while a human can harvest only 12 to 20 kilos per hour. Human pickers will not become completely obsolete, however, because human hands are still needed for hard-to-reach fruits, which the robot’s cameras cannot easily detect.
The beta version is expected in early 2017, and will be trialled at a number of growers. Current expectations are that the robot will be available commercially in 2018, although nothing has yet been said about the price, The inventors are looking at using a lease scheme.
Source/Photo: Vilt/Octinion.
Belgian greenhouse horticulturists study Dutch geothermal wells
A delegation from a greenhouse horticulture community in the Belgian city of Kempen and representatives several government agencies visited a geothermal well and a cluster of horticulture firms in the Dutch province of IJsselmuiden. The Belgian representatives examined the feasibility of this source of energy in their own country.
Greenhouse horticulture is an important economic sector not only in the municipalities of Hoogstraten, Rijkevorsel and Merksplas, but also in the province of Antwerp, and one in which sustainability will remain a key issue in the next few years to come. A shared interest in sustainability is one of the reasons why these municipalities, together with the Flemish government, the Province of Limburg and various industry associations are looking into alternative sources of energy for heating their greenhouses. In the Dutch municipality of IJsselmuiden, located in the ‘Koekoekspolder’ greenhouse horticulture area, a deep geothermal well provides five greenhouse horticulturists with geothermal heat. The geothermal heat is extracted at a depth of approximately 1900 metres.
Great enthusiasm
Everyone present was given extensive information about the project. Aside from the technical aspects, which could also be applied to projects in Antwerp, several other critical success factors were extensively discussed. These included the risks associated with the realisation of the project, the complex financing issues and the current price of natural gas.
The Flemish delegation was informed that the project owes its success to the outstanding collaboration between the various stakeholders, the execution of a long-term vision on sustainable energy and the perseverance exhibited by the horticulturists and the project leader. The visit was received with great enthusiasm from the Flemish guests. They are all assured that they will be able to realise similar projects through collaborative efforts within the greenhouse horticulture industry in the province of Antwerp.
Economic importance
‘Not only is greenhouse horticulture of tremendous economic importance to the province of Antwerp, sustainability is also a key priority on our agenda,’ says Ludwig Caluwé, the Provincial Executive member for economic affairs. He joined the delegation of greenhouse horticulture municipalities on their visit to the geothermal well site, which enabled them to gain a clear insight into how sustainability and greenhouse horticulture can be aligned. Greenhouse horticulture and geothermal energy can support one another through the realisation of an energy cluster in a greenhouse horticulture area.
Source: press release. Photo: koekoekspolder.nl