Description du projet
Des bras robotisés à vision 3D cueillent la tomate parfaite
La tomate est une culture très populaire à produire en serre. Ce processus est toutefois compliqué et nécessite une attention quotidienne. De plus, la récolte est exigeante en termes de main-d’œuvre. Dans ce contexte, le projet GRoW financé par l’UE mettra au point une solution robotique capable de manipuler les tomates sans occasionner de dommages physiques (coups, coupures et abrasions). Un système de vision 3D avancé sera capable d’identifier les fruits mûrs au beau milieu des feuilles et des tiges. Plusieurs bras robotisés extensibles augmenteront la vitesse de récolte, et des terminaux tactiles éviteront les dommages et les pertes de fruits. Ce système permettra de récolter les tomates de manière rentable tout au long de l’année, sans risque de pénurie de main-d’œuvre. La récolte sera accélérée sans que cela ne s’accompagne d’une augmentation des coûts de main-d’œuvre.
Objectif
The objective of the project is to demonstrate technological and business viability of the robotic harvesting applied in greenhouse farming of tomatoes.
To date no commercial product for automated operations on tomatoes is available because of complex R&D that a producer has to face for developing a device capable to handle this extremely damageable fruit.
Metomotion has found solutions to all the challenging technical steps, thereby allowing profitable harvesting of tomatoes and making it possible to growers to harvest the fruits throughout the year and not being exposed to labor shortage.
By doing so, the harvest speed is doubled and the labor costs are halved.
Moreover, our GRoW (Greenhouse Robotic Worker) will alleviate agricultural employees from back breaking work, permitting them to switch to more elevated tasks.
In the context of the Precision Farming approach, automation in the agricultural sector is particularly solicited and MetoMotion is offering a product capable to satisfy the most compelling needs of the growers.
The core innovations brought by MetoMotion consist of:
- Advanced 3D vision system to clearly identify ripe fruits among leaves and stems
- Extensible multiple robotic arms to increase harvest speed
- Touch sensitive terminals to avoid damage and loos of fruits
- Fully autonomous vehicle hosting embedding a box for the automated packing of collected fruits
First interactions with users have shown great interest toward GRoW product.
Within Phase 1 project, we will further explore the customer base to provide a comprehensive estimation of commercial potential relevant to GRoW.
To date, on extremely precautionary basis, we forecast MetoMotion’s production capacity of about 200 robots/year, generating revenues of about € 30 mln in 3 years of operation. This figure may be substantially reviewed in the course of the Phase 1 project.
Champ scientifique
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringautomotive engineeringautonomous vehicles
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturehorticulturefruit growing
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencecomputer vision
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturehorticulturevegetable growing
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringrobotics
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinateur
2161401 KARMIEL
Israël
L’entreprise s’est définie comme une PME (petite et moyenne entreprise) au moment de la signature de la convention de subvention.