Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CoRoSect (Cognitive Robotic System for Digitalized and Networked (Automated) Insect Farms)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-01-01 bis 2022-06-30
By 2030 over 9 billion people, along with animals raised for food or kept as companions, will need to be fed generating inconsistencies between the demand and supply of food resources and promoting food insecurity by rendering food as unavailable, unaffordable, unevenly distributed or unsafe to eat. Therefore, food security represents the big challenge of the 21st century and in that context one promising potential sustainable solution is insect farming. However research, innovation, farming protocols development and standardization, and a technology leap by robotizing and automatizing the mass rearing in insect farms is needed in order to concurrently scale the production and dramatically decrease the production costs. CoRoSect addresses the dramatic need of coupling research on bionomics and life cycle of insects intended to be used as food and feed, with new robotic tools and protocols for mechanization and automation of insect farming, which is a critical point stressed by the Technical Expert Consultation on Assessing the Potential of Insects as Food and Feed in Assuring Food Security. CoRoSect forms a novel integrated cognitive robotic ecosystem where the repetitive but also cognitively and physically demanding tasks requiring increased manual effort or continuous human supervision during the insects’ lifecycle, are replaced by automatic robotic-based procedures which will also draw upon research performed on understanding biological, technical, and economic requirements of insect rearing and optimizing all involved processes. Focusing on real insect rearing problems, CoRoSect technologies are evaluated through pilots in 5 insect farms placed in 5 European countries rearing three of the most commonly occurring species, thereby contributing essentially to a secure and sustainable food supply in Europe.
Achievements, reached by the CoRoSect partners during the first reporting period, include:
- Biological, technical, and economic requirements for efficient insect rearing have been identified. From these requirements, uses cases with potential for high technical and economic impact have been derived that the CoRoSect partners target in a joint effort.
- Following identified user requirements for high-quality insect rearing, suitable sensors solutions for intelligent crates were identified and studied. Prototypes of sensors were built to be integrated into intelligent crates that monitor the well-being of insects during the rearing process. Initial prototypes of sensor solutions (three intelligent crates with four sensors elements in each) with the supporting software solutions were tested.
- The CoRoSect dynamic robotic cell for insect rearing has been designed. The cell design considers pick and place positions, safety, sensorization, path ways for autonomous guided vehicles and coordination between the collaborative and industrial arms.
- An autonomous guided under crawler vehicle has been developed capable of autonomously lifting and transporting stacks of crates within insect farms. Software for autonomous navigation, path planning, localization, and mapping has been developed and will be further enhanced in the coming project period.
- Datasets for automated visual inspection of insects at different stages of the insects’ life cycles have been created at the CoRoSect insect farms. The data collected from these farms enabled the initialisation of various AI models for automatically providing crucial semantic information to the farmers (i.e. the count, the average size, and the health status of the insects reared within a crate).
- Several AI tools for safe human-robot interaction are in development
- An effective architecture to integrate the networked CoRoSect systems has been defined based on the Reference Architectural Model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI4.0). Initial versions of the shop floor manager that orchestrates the CoRoSect ecosystem and the decision support system that provides models of and insights into the processes in the insect farm have been developed. A first conference abstract on the decision support system has been published: https://www.wageningenacademic.com/doi/10.3920/jiff2022.s1
- A report has been provided that reviews and synthesizes current scientific and practical knowledge concerning environmental constraints and biologically and economically optimal conditions for rearing black soldier fly, mealworm, and house cricket. Pre-trials have been conducted in preparation of the development of sustainable insect diets from agricultural wastes and side streams.
- Ethical and legal guidelines for human-robot collaboration in industrial automation: CoRoSect works towards the development and use of legally and ethically compliant technological solutions. For this purpose, the project has carried out legal research in the field of privacy and data protection, safety and cybersecurity legislation, and the regulation of artificial intelligence and robotics.
- Biological, technical, and economic requirements for efficient insect rearing have been identified. From these requirements, uses cases with potential for high technical and economic impact have been derived that the CoRoSect partners target in a joint effort.
- Following identified user requirements for high-quality insect rearing, suitable sensors solutions for intelligent crates were identified and studied. Prototypes of sensors were built to be integrated into intelligent crates that monitor the well-being of insects during the rearing process. Initial prototypes of sensor solutions (three intelligent crates with four sensors elements in each) with the supporting software solutions were tested.
- The CoRoSect dynamic robotic cell for insect rearing has been designed. The cell design considers pick and place positions, safety, sensorization, path ways for autonomous guided vehicles and coordination between the collaborative and industrial arms.
- An autonomous guided under crawler vehicle has been developed capable of autonomously lifting and transporting stacks of crates within insect farms. Software for autonomous navigation, path planning, localization, and mapping has been developed and will be further enhanced in the coming project period.
- Datasets for automated visual inspection of insects at different stages of the insects’ life cycles have been created at the CoRoSect insect farms. The data collected from these farms enabled the initialisation of various AI models for automatically providing crucial semantic information to the farmers (i.e. the count, the average size, and the health status of the insects reared within a crate).
- Several AI tools for safe human-robot interaction are in development
- An effective architecture to integrate the networked CoRoSect systems has been defined based on the Reference Architectural Model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI4.0). Initial versions of the shop floor manager that orchestrates the CoRoSect ecosystem and the decision support system that provides models of and insights into the processes in the insect farm have been developed. A first conference abstract on the decision support system has been published: https://www.wageningenacademic.com/doi/10.3920/jiff2022.s1
- A report has been provided that reviews and synthesizes current scientific and practical knowledge concerning environmental constraints and biologically and economically optimal conditions for rearing black soldier fly, mealworm, and house cricket. Pre-trials have been conducted in preparation of the development of sustainable insect diets from agricultural wastes and side streams.
- Ethical and legal guidelines for human-robot collaboration in industrial automation: CoRoSect works towards the development and use of legally and ethically compliant technological solutions. For this purpose, the project has carried out legal research in the field of privacy and data protection, safety and cybersecurity legislation, and the regulation of artificial intelligence and robotics.
CoRoSect aims to generate significant technological, societal, and economic impact in insect rearing, robotics and artificial intelligence, human-robot interaction and industrial automation with the goal of improving food security worldwide:
- With its focus on the automation of insect farming, CoRoSect will contribute to insect rearing at large scale thereby helping society in securing a sustainable production of food and feed from insect proteins.
- Through the development of sustainable insect diets from agricultural wastes and side streams, CoRoSect targets the reduction of organic waste and its conversion into valuable food and feed.
- The development of robotic technology and artificial intelligence for digitalized and networked automated insect farms aims at increasing the efficiency of insect farms thereby generating substantial economic value.
- The developed CoRoSect technologies also aim at improving working conditions of human workers who, thanks to CoRoSect, will benefit from a better collaboration with robots and will gain a better understanding and control of the complex processes inside insect farms.
- CoRoSect aims at establishing new industrial standards for the orchestration of networked cyber-physical systems under the Reference Architectural Model for Industry 4.0.
- CoRoSect develops AI techniques contributing to quality management in insect farms aiming at better quality of food and feed. CoRoSect e.g. aims at developing more accurate object detection algorithms that perform even in crowded and highly occluded environments as they can be experienced when thousands of worms move inside a crate. CoRoSect also generates new data sets for insect rearing and improved annotation techniques for large-volume unlabelled data.
- The innovations in robotics, artificial intelligence, and in the orchestration of networked cyber-physical systems will be widely applicable also to other industrial areas such as in the manufacturing industry.
- CoRoSect aims to generate insights into the ethical, legal, and social implications of human-robot collaboration in industrial automation. CoRoSect research contributes to the academic and societal knowledge by clarifying and refining the rules that should govern artificial intelligence and robotics in industrial settings. CoRoSect research will also produce output with potential societal impacts by providing recommendations to law and policy makers in the area of regulation of emerging technologies.
- With its focus on the automation of insect farming, CoRoSect will contribute to insect rearing at large scale thereby helping society in securing a sustainable production of food and feed from insect proteins.
- Through the development of sustainable insect diets from agricultural wastes and side streams, CoRoSect targets the reduction of organic waste and its conversion into valuable food and feed.
- The development of robotic technology and artificial intelligence for digitalized and networked automated insect farms aims at increasing the efficiency of insect farms thereby generating substantial economic value.
- The developed CoRoSect technologies also aim at improving working conditions of human workers who, thanks to CoRoSect, will benefit from a better collaboration with robots and will gain a better understanding and control of the complex processes inside insect farms.
- CoRoSect aims at establishing new industrial standards for the orchestration of networked cyber-physical systems under the Reference Architectural Model for Industry 4.0.
- CoRoSect develops AI techniques contributing to quality management in insect farms aiming at better quality of food and feed. CoRoSect e.g. aims at developing more accurate object detection algorithms that perform even in crowded and highly occluded environments as they can be experienced when thousands of worms move inside a crate. CoRoSect also generates new data sets for insect rearing and improved annotation techniques for large-volume unlabelled data.
- The innovations in robotics, artificial intelligence, and in the orchestration of networked cyber-physical systems will be widely applicable also to other industrial areas such as in the manufacturing industry.
- CoRoSect aims to generate insights into the ethical, legal, and social implications of human-robot collaboration in industrial automation. CoRoSect research contributes to the academic and societal knowledge by clarifying and refining the rules that should govern artificial intelligence and robotics in industrial settings. CoRoSect research will also produce output with potential societal impacts by providing recommendations to law and policy makers in the area of regulation of emerging technologies.