Project description
Increasing the versatility of agricultural robotics
In an effort to enhance agricultural production, agricultural robots are being increasingly adopted. The number of discreet tasks to be automated, however, significantly reduces the flexibility of current solutions, thus impacting efficiency and limiting their take-up. The EU-funded FLEXIGROBOTS project aims to develop a platform that will help build heterogeneous multi-robot systems, allowing for vastly improved flexibility by using existing robots for multiple tasks. This could help produce higher-value data from a variety of sources and sensors, increasing operational autonomy and precision while greatly reducing costs and encouraging investment in robotics.
Objective
Agricultural robotics solutions can integrate a variety of robots for a variety of monitoring and targeted intervention tasks, to increase farm productivity, efficiency and sustainability through support of automated precision farming operations. Despite the rising farmer investment in farm/agricultural robots, most deployable robotic systems are meant to automate only specific tasks. The wide variety of tasks that need to be fulfilled in a single precision agriculture operation or mission makes it extremely unprofitable to address its automation with task-specific robots. These challenges result in a lack of flexibility of current heterogeneous multi-robot systems that poses low returns on investment and high risks for farmers. In order to become cost-effective, heterogeneous multi-robot systems needs to become more flexible by employing more versatile (e.g. multi-task) robots which collaborate to accomplish complex missions; ensuring scalable human oversight and intervention through adaptive mission control mechanisms (e.g. without information overload /overwhelming effort from the farmer); allowing the farmer to profit from robotics operational data. FlexiGroBots proposes a Platform for developing heterogeneous multi-robot systems and applications which allows for i) more versatility by using the same robots for different observation and intervention tasks, in different missions, throughout the crop life cycle, ii) more cooperation between heterogeneous (ground and aerial) robots to accomplish more complex missions; iii) more valuable data to generate accurate insights into the fields, crops and robotics operations by combining data from IoT sensors, satellites and data collected by the robots; iv) more autonomy for real-time adaptation of mission plans as well as robot behaviour at the crop level, given operational conditions and real-time insights; v) more precision to carry out specific tasks in a very localized way, gaining accuracy and lowering costs.
Fields of science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesinternetinternet of things
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringsatellite technology
- social sciencessociologyindustrial relationsautomation
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculture
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringrobotics
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
IA - Innovation actionCoordinator
28760 Tres Cantos Madrid
Spain
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Participants (16)
Legal entity other than a subcontractor which is affiliated or legally linked to a participant. The entity carries out work under the conditions laid down in the Grant Agreement, supplies goods or provides services for the action, but did not sign the Grant Agreement. A third party abides by the rules applicable to its related participant under the Grant Agreement with regard to eligibility of costs and control of expenditure.
28037 Madrid
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1000 Bruxelles / Brussel
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33005 Oviedo
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28006 Madrid
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36760 O Rosal
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
6708 PB Wageningen
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02150 Espoo
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21000 Novi Sad
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89167 Mazeikiai
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
00790 Helsinki
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01301 Vantaa
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90420 Oulu
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
44227 Dortmund
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1009 Riga
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LT-08412 Vilnius
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
11070 BELGRADE NOVI BEOGRAD
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