PotBot – Autonomous transportation of potted plants in horticultural gardens

PotBot aims to help robot technology providers, robot technology integrators and end-users in the horticultural industry by mapping the “logistics landscape” and matching the right technologies to the right balance of human-robot work-division and thus the right level of autonomy.

Background

PotBot – Autonomous transportation of potted plants in horticultural gardens

In the last years, mobile robot technologies have with the maturing of AI and novels sensor technologies, entered many new domains, seen new spectacular applications, and fostered new start-ups, but this development has still not reached the horticultural supply chain. One reason are the barriers created by the inherent complexity of the horticultural environments, as they often are only partially known, partially structured, potentially wet and damp, may contain both acid and basic aerosol components, and simultaneously have both indoor and outdoor parts – all factors that make it quite difficult for mobile robots to operate fully autonomously and robustly.

In PotBot we aim to help (robot) technology providers, (robot) technology integrators, end-users and the horticultural industry pave the way across these barriers by together mapping the “horticultural logistics landscape” and matching the right technologies – e.g., mobile robot platforms, computer vision, AI, optical flow- and line-following sensors, safety systems, and human-robot-interaction components – to the right balance of human-robot work-division and thus the right level of autonomy.

Background

A horticultural supply chain from producer to store requires a vast number of logistics operations for the products. To reduce packaging waste, increase sustainability and promote better work conditions, transportation of potted plant both internally and externally is mostly conducted in trays placed on flower containers (FCs) pushed around manually or attached to a small manually operated tow-truck or tractor.

The project will adapt the technologies, create 2-3 demonstrators show-casing what is possible with primarily off-the-shelf technologies.

Purpose / Vision

The partners will address three over-all purposes:

lift the technological knowledge-level of all partners – but in particular the companies – to understand better the possibilities and barriers for autonomous pot-transportation
through collaboration and networking activities, enable the identification and establishment of new business joint-ventures among the partners
lay the foundation for future strong R&D collaborations - bringing new products to market that will facilitate future green autonomous pot logistics in the horticultural industry.

Expected Results

The project will allow the end-users to obtain a real-world indication of the future potential for robotic technologies as an integral part of the intra-logistics in greenhouses and outdoor container fields. The technology providers will gain significant experience in the role of their products in future scenarios. Additionally the project results will be shared in multiple ways and be used as steppingstones for future collaborative research proposals on future green autonomous pot logistics in the horticultural industry.