Project description
Advanced technologies to support wild berry pickers
It is estimated that less than 10 % of annual wild berry production in Nordic countries is harvested manually from forests. Due to the short season, most pickers are migrant labourers with limited knowledge of the language, culture and forests. As such, their working conditions represent the main challenge in manual forest harvesting. The EU-funded FEROX project will improve the working conditions of the wild berry pickers through advanced technologies. The project will employ autonomous drones equipped with various sensors to acquire data used to build AI models and 3D models of the forests to precisely estimate berries’ locations, amounts and types. FEROX will demonstrate the solution in the Finnish forests.
Objective
Wild berries and mushrooms are considered to be a national treasure of Nordic countries. These food products require zero resources to cultivate as they grow naturally in the forests. It is estimated that less than 10% of the total annual wild berry crop is harvested from the forests. The main challenge in collecting wild berries lies in the manual forest harvesting, namely pickers’ working conditions. Due to the short season, the majority of the work is conducted by foreigners with limited knowledge of the language, culture and forests. The FEROX project aims to utilize advances in AI, data, and robotics to improve the working conditions of the wild berry pickers. The project will employ autonomous drones equipped with various sensors to acquire data, build 3D models of the forests and, therefore, accurately estimate berries’ locations, amount and types. The collected data will be used to build AI models to help workers locate the berries and optimize their operations. In addition, FEROX will provide wild berry pickers with navigation and locating services and physical support to improve their working conditions and boost their trust and confidence. The holistic solution of FEROX will contribute to the overall safety of the workers by automatically monitoring the pickers and providing aid where it is needed. As a consequence, FEROX is expected to attract locals and hiking enthusiasts to work during summer in collecting wild products, hence, increasing the overall yield of the wild berries. These outcomes will open business opportunities for EU companies to adapt the solutions developed for industrialized cultivation as well as support global sustainability as technology providers for safe and sustainable berry harvesting. To demonstrate the solution, FEROX will conduct its tests in the forests in Finland with the support of the wild berries and mushroom ‘Arktiset Aromit’ (Arctic Flavours) Association.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering robotics autonomous robots drones
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.2.4 - Digital, Industry and Space
MAIN PROGRAMME
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HORIZON.2.4.5 - Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-IA - HORIZON Innovation Actions
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL4-2021-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
38122 Trento
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.