Robotics in agriculture

RoLand project

The aim of the project is to design and develop a semi-autonomous, mobile system that is capable of harvesting fruit independently. Specifically, the project addresses strawberry harvesting in field crops. Automation can help to preserve Germany as a growing location for many types of fruit and vegetables in the long term and strengthen the regional cultivation of food. By avoiding long transportation routes, the CO2 balance of our food can be improved. The aim is to develop a system that can also be operated economically by smaller businesses, taking into account a wide range of possible applications and a low investment volume.

Roboter SHIVAA

The SHIVAA robot was developed for harvesting strawberries in ridge crops. It is able to autonomously localize itself in the field and follow a row of strawberries independently. AI-based solutions for recognizing the row of strawberries based on RGB data are used for this purpose. The robot is currently equipped with a manipulator that is able to approach and grab individual strawberries. Strawberry recognition and classification is AI-based on the basis of multispectral image data. Solutions have been implemented to differentiate between unripe, ripe and overripe strawberries.

With the system developed, the aim is to achieve a harvesting capacity of approx. 20 kg of strawberries per hour. The number of small systems working in parallel means that the output can be adapted to the requirements of the farm size.