At Food4Future in Bilbao, the Eurecat technology centre is showcasing robotic solutions for automating tasks in the agricultural industry such as detecting and harvesting vegetables, applying plant protection products, autonomous transport in the field and gathering crop data.
Eurecat is exhibiting a robotic arm for detecting and harvesting vegetables such as cucumbers at this foodtech event. The arm harnesses computer vision and artificial intelligence technologies with a data system to monitor the condition of the crop and identify when the fruit is ripe for harvesting.
The HarvBot innovation, developed with Enkitek as part of the Digital Innovation Hubs Support Programme (PADIH) run by the Digital Innovation Hub of Catalonia (DIH4CAT), harvests cucumbers using a combined system of pneumatically-operated silicone fingers to pick the fruit without damaging it and electrically-operated scissor-tipped fingers to cut the stem.
The technology centre is also presenting an advanced robotics solution in plant health treatment in greenhouses, particularly for crops such as berries and staked vegetables. This solution has been developed under the ROVAG project led by Geoentec Environment Technologies with Eurecat as its tech partner for building an autonomous system and its functional integration.
The platform works on the farm completely autonomously, combining outdoor and indoor navigation, obstacle, crop and people detection and autonomous, assisted or manual operating modes. The robot is equipped with systems for applying liquid and powder products and can perform high-precision treatments without human intervention, automatically adjusting the flow rate, droplet size and filter closure. The inclusion of artificial intelligence allows the robotic solution to count and classify fruits and leaves, anticipate the harvest and spot potential pests and diseases.
The system is managed from mobile and cloud apps which allow users to configure the farm, schedule tasks and remotely monitor both the robot and the linked Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
These cutting-edge innovations “have been developed by Eurecat in partnership with businesses to address specific challenges and needs in the agricultural sector, such as climate change resilience and the shortage of skilled workers,” says Carol Benedí, Eurecat’s Food Market business manager.
“These solutions bring together numerous technologies including robotics, artificial intelligence and data analytics to support the digital transformation of agricultural operations and step up efficiency, sustainability and competitiveness in their processes,” adds Roger Font, Eurecat’s Director of Markets.
Under this approach, Eurecat is showcasing an aerial robot adapted for precision agriculture at Food4Future. The robot is connected to a smart platform developed as part of the European VitiGEOSS project which harnesses technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, remote sensing, satellite Earth observation services and field sensors to generate forecasts and recommendations which enable more sustainable vineyard decision-making and management and the crop’s resilience to climate change.
Its booth also features a terrestrial robot for monitoring crop conditions and autonomously transporting fruit across uneven terrain such as farmland. The robot is equipped with 3D perception for understanding its surroundings and semantic reasoning for smart decision-making.
The robot is managed from a multi-robot application, the SOMAgro platform, which enables efficient fleet coordination and helps to automate agriculture and give farmers greater control over the tasks performed.
In sustainability and climate change, Eurecat is showing at the fair a greenhouse equipped with an agrovoltaic system featuring organic, flexible and semi-transparent photovoltaic modules using printed electronics with materials specifically selected to ensure complementary light absorption for plant growth and which have been rolled out as part of the European SYNATRA project.
