Single Board Computers are radically improving indoor agriculture by optimizing environmental conditions, enabling IoT applications, and integrating AI for sustainable, efficient farming.


Applying Single Board Computers (SBCs) in Indoor Agriculture Applications

How SBCs can enhance precision agriculture machinery and optimize production and farmers' resources.


Precision Agriculture with SBCs: Exploring the Benefits and Applications on Machinery

<h2 id="isPasted">What Is the Diversification of Primary Industries?</h2>The diversification of primary industries refers to the aim to have producers (primary industries) also perform processing (secondary industries) and distribution and sales (tertiary industries) in order to diversify their management. The purpose of this is to curb price fluctuations with the wholesale of produce to increase added value and to improve the income of producers while revitalizing regions at the same time. This is achieved by integrating the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries.<h2>Current State of Agriculture and the Necessity of the Diversification of Management</h2>The number of agricultural workers is continuing to decline in most countries around the world. For example, it is expected that the number of agricultural workers in the EU will decline by approximately 28% between 2017 and 2030*1. Meanwhile, the number of farms in the US fell from 7.6 million in 1950 to 2.06 million in 2000. That is a reduction of approximately 73%*2. Furthermore, the number of agricultural workers in Japan dropped from 4.82 million in 1990 to 2.097 million in 2015. That is a decline by more than half over 25 years*3. At the same time, the age of agricultural workers is rising. It is said that the average age of agricultural workers in developed countries is around 60 years old*4. The reduction in the number of agricultural workers and their increasing age has led to a decrease in the income of farms. That is a major cause of a worsening vicious cycle.Phenomena like this make it difficult to supply food in a stable manner, which is the original role of agriculture. It also has a major impact on national security.Accordingly, various initiatives are being promoted in each country to realize the diversification of management that integrates production, processing, and sales while promoting the digital transformation of agriculture that proactively utilizes digital technologies. The aim of this is to stop this vicious cycle and to conversely encourage economic development.<ol><li>Latest Outlook on Agriculture by the European Commission&nbsp;</li><li>US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service</li><li>Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries&#39; 2015 Agriculture and Forestry Census Report&nbsp;</li><li>Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)</li></ol><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjgxODI0ODIwMjI3LWRpZ2l0YWwtMS5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The diversification of primary industries is the key to creating new value&nbsp;<h2 id="isPasted">Benefits from the Diversification of Primary Industries</h2>The benefits from the diversification of primary industries include the creation of jobs, the revitalization of local communities, and the branding of produce in addition to an improvement in income. We describe these benefits here.<h3>Stabilization of Prices and Improvement in Income</h3>Producers consistently perform processing, distribution, and sales. Therefore, earnings are not affected by price changes in the wholesale market. Normally, non-production processes are performed by different business operators. This means the price rises as the number of business operators involved increases. To that end, producers must keep their earnings low to stably provide produce to consumers. In contrast to this, it is possible to reduce intermediary costs by diversifying primary industries. That makes it possible to provide produce to consumers at low prices while achieving an increase in earnings. Furthermore, producers possess the right to determine prices, so it is possible to stabilize their income.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjgxODI0ODQxMTQ4LWRpZ2l0YWwtMi5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Cutting intermediary costs improves income&nbsp;<h3 id="isPasted">Creation of Jobs and Revitalization of Local Communities</h3>When primary industries are diversified, producers also perform processing, distribution, and sales. As a result, the volume of business increases, and thus jobs are created in producing areas. Moreover, employees are needed throughout the year in non-production departments. Accordingly, stable employment is possible. Furthermore, as it is possible to ensure non-production revenue all year round, corporate management is stable. In addition, stable employment and the stabilization of management prevents the hemorrhaging of the population to city areas, and thus can greatly contribute to the revitalization of local communities.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjgxODI0ODYxNzc1LWRpZ2l0YWwtMy5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The creation of jobs revitalizes local communities&nbsp;<h3 id="isPasted">Branding of Produce</h3>It is possible to brand produce with the uniqueness of the producing area and processing technologies as their selling points by producers performing the processing, distributing, and selling. For example, producers can achieve differentiation from other products with branding by highlighting the use of fresh ingredients and the manufacturing methods they are committed to as their selling points. This makes it possible to improve the added value.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjgxODI0ODgxNzk2LWRpZ2l0YWwtNC5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Branding improves added value&nbsp;<h2 id="isPasted">Challenges in the Diversification of Primary Industries</h2>The diversification of primary industries mainly refers to starting new businesses. It is necessary to understand the disadvantages in advance and to solve each challenge when starting a new business. We describe here the challenges of diversification of primary industries.&nbsp;<h3>Large Initial Investment and Running Costs Are Required</h3>As in the past, the stable supply of produce is of the utmost importance even in the diversification of primary industries. It is necessary to invest in automation, mechanization, processing machines, transportation machines, and other areas to stably supply produce. Moreover, it costs money to sell produce as products. Those costs include product development and packing box design to achieve differentiation with other products, responding to HACCP in terms of hygiene management, and investment in marketing.<h3>Accurate Inventory Control and Strict Quality Control Are Required</h3>Producers must formulate a clear production plan considering the balance of supply and demand to proceed with capital investment and contracts with sales partners in an advantageous manner. It is essential to have inventory control to accurately understand how much inventory there is in which process in the route from production to sales to formulate a clear production plan. It is also important to have quality control such as with best-before and expiry dates of products in inventory. Supply shortages and surplus inventory will arise without a clear production plan, and can cause a decline in earnings due to the termination of contracts with sales partners and an increase in discarded products.<h3>Specialized Knowledge in Each Field Is Required</h3>In most cases, producers have a wealth of production technology, knowledge, and experience. However, knowledge relating to processing, distribution, and sales that they have not been involved in before is unknown territory for them. Even if products are completed after production and processing, if problems arise with the distribution and sales methods, it can lead to excess inventory. Furthermore, it is of course necessary to have knowledge different from in the past if utilizing IoT technologies aiming for automation, mechanization, and smart agriculture in terms of production technologies.<h2>Examples of Success in the Diversification of Primary Industries</h2>There are many challenges that need to be met to succeed in the diversification of primary industries. We introduce here some examples in which these challenges were solved to lead to success.<h3>Example of Dairy Farming Management That Achieved the Centralized Operation of Initial Investment and a Reduction in Production Costs by Forming a Cooperative Corporation</h3>Multiple dairy farmers formed a cooperative corporation to establish a stock company that performs large-scale dairy farming management. Centrally operating initial investment has allowed those dairy farms to introduce a large number of milking robots. That means they can save labor, perform efficient breeding management, and realize other benefits in large-scale dairy farming management. The corporation also introduced equipment to analyze the ingredients in the raw milk for each specimen in conjunction with the milking robots. This makes it possible to manage diseases and breeding, allowing for improvement of breeding efficiency and the achievement of other advantages.In this way, the dairy farmers could form a cooperative corporation to centrally operate investment even for expensive devices that are difficult for a single farm to introduce. The corporation can also realize initiatives that require advanced digital technologies such as for improvements in breeding efficiency.<h3>Example of a Farmer Achieving Accurate Inventory Management and Strict Quality Control with IoT Technology</h3>IoT refers to the Internet of Things. For example, inventory control of fertilizers, agricultural chemicals, and other agricultural supplies and agriculture produce by humans is inaccurate and complicated.&nbsp;It is possible to measure these items with digital equipment and to then manage them on the Internet by utilizing IoT technologies. That makes it possible to solve problems such as shipping and delivery delays due to labor shortages and errors in filling out handwritten slips or sending products. At the same time, as optimal inventory control is possible, producers can also accurately understand produce with best-before and expiry dates. This means they can avoid troubles such as with shipping and selling expired products.<h3>Example of Utilizing Professionals in Each Field</h3>By working while consulting with experts in each field including product development, package design, processing, distribution, and hygiene management, it is possible to tackle the efficient diversification of management. Also, by utilizing outsourcing to acquire comprehensive knowledge &ndash; including the creation of business plans, application methods for subsidies and grants, the introduction of drones, robots, computer systems, and other digital equipment, and matching of their operators &ndash; it is possible to quickly realize advanced diversification of management.<h2>Digital Technologies Are Essential to Successful Diversification of Primary Industries</h2>Consumer needs are diversifying and the number of primary industry workers is declining while their age is rising. Against this background, the key to achieving growth in the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries industries is how primary industry workers can accurately grasp the needs of consumers and then efficiently and effectively respond to them. It is essential to utilize management information analysis and parsing tools, perform thorough cost management, and streamline production for that.For instance, it is an essential condition to introduce digital technologies to establish cultivated land management with CO2 sensors and soil sensors and an inventory control and quality control structure utilizing IoT technologies. That is in addition to improving the efficiency of production with robots, drones, and various automated machines.Until now, the eyes of primary industry workers have been turned toward production processes that are upstream of the supply chain from the procurement of raw materials and parts for products to sales. The diversification of primary industries refers to tackling businesses that build relationships with distributors and consumers focusing on the entire supply chain. There are many challenges to implementing this. However, it is possible to reap significant benefits with the success of that.Firmly grasping the basics of business to clarify strategies and properly utilizing digital technologies to develop new services is the secret to success in the diversification of primary industries in terms of creating added value and increasing income.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjgxODI0OTExMTcyLWRpZ2l0YWwtNS5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><hr id="isPasted"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjg1MDg2NjcyNTM4LTE2ODUwODY2NzI1MzgucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" class="fr-fic fr-dii">If you have any questions based on this article that you would like to discuss with an expert at Murata, don&#39;t hesitate to reach out. There&#39;s an entire team ready to support you with your question.<a class="button-main-action" href="https://www.murata.com/en-eu/contactform?&Detail=Wevolver%20request" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">GET IN TOUCH</a><hr>

The diversification of primary industries refers to the aim to have producers (primary industries) also perform processing (secondary industries) and distribution and sales (tertiary industries) in order to diversify their management

Digital Technologies That Realize the Diversification of Primary Industries

This article was first published on <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2023/titanic-robots-farming-more-sustainable-0309" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MIT News</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;<hr>There&rsquo;s a lot riding on farmers&rsquo; ability to fight weeds, which can strangle crops and destroy yields. To protect crops, farmers have two options: They can spray herbicides that pollute the environment and harm human health, or they can hire more workers.Unfortunately, both choices are becoming less tenable. Herbicide resistance is a growing problem in crops around the world, while widespread labor shortages have hit the agricultural sector particularly hard.Now the startup FarmWise, co-founded by Sebastien Boyer SM &rsquo;16, is giving farmers a third option. The company has developed autonomous weeding robots that use artificial intelligence to cut out weeds while leaving crops untouched.The company&rsquo;s first robot, fittingly called the Titan &mdash; picture a large tractor that makes use of a trailer in lieu of a driver&rsquo;s seat &mdash; uses machine vision to distinguish weeds from crops including leafy greens, cauliflower, artichokes, and tomatoes while snipping weeds with sub-inch precision.About 15 Titans have been roaming the fields of 30 large farms in California and Arizona for the last few years, providing weeding as a service while being directed by an iPad. Last month, the company unveiled its newest robot, Vulcan, which is more lightweight and pulled by a tractor.&ldquo;We have growing population, and we can&rsquo;t expand the land or water we have, so we need to drastically increase the efficiency of the farming industry,&rdquo; Boyer says. &ldquo;I think AI and data are going to be major players in that journey.&rdquo;<h2>Finding a road to impact</h2>Boyer came to MIT in 2014 and earned masters&rsquo; degrees in technology and policy as well as electrical engineering and computer science over the next two years.&ldquo;What stood out is the passion that my classmates had for what they did &mdash; the drive and passion people had to change the world,&rdquo; Boyer says.As part of his graduate work, Boyer researched machine learning and machine vision techniques, and he soon began exploring ways to apply those technologies to environmental problems. He received a small amount of funding from MIT Sandbox to further develop the idea.&ldquo;That helped me make the decision to not take a real job,&rdquo; Boyer recalls.Following graduation, he and FarmWise co-founder Thomas Palomares, a graduate of Stanford University whom Boyer met in his home country of France, began going to farmers&rsquo; markets, introducing themselves to small farmers and asking for tours of their farms. About one in three farmers were happy to show them around. From there they&rsquo;d ask for referrals to larger farmers and service providers in the industry.&ldquo;We realized agriculture is a large contributor of both emissions and, more broadly, to the negative impact of human activities on the environment,&rdquo; Boyer says. &ldquo;It also hasn&rsquo;t been as disrupted by software, cloud computing, AI, and robotics as other industries. That combination really excites us.&rdquo;Through their conversations, the founders learned herbicides are becoming less effective as weeds develop genetic resistance. The only alternative is to hire more workers, which itself was becoming more difficult for farmers.&ldquo;Labor is extremely tight,&rdquo; says Boyer, adding that bending over and weeding for 10 hours a day is one of the hardest jobs out there. &ldquo;The labor supply is shrinking if not collapsing in the U.S., and it&rsquo;s a worldwide trend. That has real environmental implications because of the tradeoff [between labor and herbicides].&rdquo;The problem is especially acute for farmers of specialty crops, including many fruits, vegetables, and nuts, which grow on smaller farms than corn and soybean and each require slightly different growing practices, limiting the effectiveness of many technical and chemical solutions.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t harvest corn by hand today, but we still harvest lettuces and nuts and apples by hand,&rdquo; Boyer says.The Titan was built to complement field workers&rsquo; efforts to grow and maintain crops. An operator directs it using an iPad, walking alongside the machine and inspecting progress. Both the Titan and Vulcan are powered by an AI that directs hundreds of tiny blades to snip out weeds around each crop. The Vulcan is controlled directly from the tractor cab, where the operator has a touchscreen interface Boyer compares to those found in a Tesla.With more than 15,000 commercial hours under its belt, FarmWise hopes the data it collects can be used for more than just weeding in the near future.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all about precision,&rdquo; Boyer says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to better understand what the plant needs and make smarter decisions for each one. That will bring us to a point where we can use the same amount of land, much less water, almost no chemicals, much less fertilizer, and still produce more food than we&rsquo;re producing today. That&rsquo;s the mission. That&rsquo;s what excites me.&rdquo;<h2>Weeding out farming challenges</h2>A customer recently told Boyer that without the Titan, he would have to switch all of his organic crops back to conventional because he couldn&rsquo;t find enough workers.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s happening with a lot of customers,&rdquo; Boyer says. &ldquo;They have no choice but to rely on herbicides. Acres are staying organic because of our product, and conventional farms are reducing their use of herbicides.&rdquo;Now FarmWise is expanding its database to support weeding for six to 12 new crops each year, and Boyer says adding new crops is getting easier and easier for its system.As early partners have sought to expand their deployments, Boyer says the only thing limiting the company&rsquo;s growth is how fast it can build new robots. FarmWise&rsquo;s new machines will begin being deployed later this year.Although the hulking Titan robots are the face of the company today, the founders hope to leverage the data they&rsquo;ve collected to further improve farming operations.&ldquo;The mission of the company is to turn AI into a tool that is as reliable and dependable as GPS is now in the farming industry,&rdquo; Boyer says. &ldquo;Twenty-five years ago, GPS was a very complicated technology. You had to connect to satellites and do some crazy computation to define your position. But a few companies brought GPS to a new level of reliability and simplicity. Today, every farmer in the world uses GPS. We think AI can have an even deeper impact than GPS has had on the farming industry, and we want to be the company that makes it available and easy to use for every farmer in the world.&rdquo;<hr>&quot;Reprinted with permission of&nbsp;<a href="https://news.mit.edu/2023/titanic-robots-farming-more-sustainable-0309" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MIT News</a>&quot; &nbsp;

MIT alumnus-founded FarmWise uses hulking, autonomous robots that resemble tractors to preserve crops while snipping weeds, eliminating the need for herbicides. Courtesy of FarmWise

MIT alumnus-founded FarmWise uses autonomous machines to snip weeds while preserving crops, eliminating the need for herbicides.

Titanic robots make farming more sustainable

A new study led by <a href="https://mechse.illinois.edu/" id="isPasted" target="_blank">mechanical science and engineering</a> professor <a href="https://mechse.illinois.edu/people/profile/tawfick" target="_blank">Sameh Tawfick</a> demonstrates a series of click beetle-sized robots small enough to fit into tight spaces, powerful enough to maneuver over obstacles and fast enough to match an insect&rsquo;s rapid escape time.&nbsp;The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Princeton University have studied click beetle anatomy, mechanics and evolution over the past decade.&nbsp;<a href="https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/589930360" target="_blank">A 2020 study</a> found that snap buckling &ndash; the rapid release of elastic energy &ndash; of a coiled muscle within a click beetle&rsquo;s thorax is triggered to allow them to propel themselves in the air many times their body length, as a means of righting themselves if flipped onto their backs.&ldquo;One of the grand challenges of small-scale robotics is finding a design that is small, yet powerful enough to move around obstacles or quickly escape dangerous settings,&rdquo; Tawfick said.In the new study, Tawfick and his team used tiny <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aax7304" target="_blank">coiled actuators</a> &ndash; analogous to animal muscles &ndash; that pull on a beam-shaped mechanism, causing it to slowly buckle and store elastic energy until it is spontaneously released and amplified, propelling the robots upward.<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3udLRU9_qog?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" style="width: 765px; height: 509px;"></iframe>&ldquo;This process, called a dynamic buckling cascade, is simple compared to the anatomy of a click beetle,&rdquo; Tawfick said. &ldquo;However, simple is good in this case because it allows us to work and fabricate parts at this small scale.&rdquo;Guided by biological evolution and mathematical models, the team built and tested four device variations, landing on two configurations that can successfully jump without manual intervention.&ldquo;Moving forward, we do not have a set approach on the exact design of the next generation of these robots, but this study plants a seed in the evolution of this technology &ndash; a process similar to biologic evolution,&rdquo; Tawfick said.The team envisions these robots accessing tight spaces to help perform maintenance on large machines like turbines and jet engines, for example, by taking pictures to identify problems.&ldquo;We also imagine insect-scale robots being useful in modern agriculture,&rdquo; Tawfick said. &ldquo;Scientists and farmers currently use drones and rovers to monitor crops, but sometimes researchers need a sensor to touch a plant or to capture a photograph of a very small-scale feature. Insect-scale robots can do that.&rdquo;Researchers from the University of Birmingham, UK; Oxford University; and the University of Texas at Dallas also participated in this research.The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Toyota Research Institute North America, the National Science Foundation and The Royal Society supported this study.

Mechanical science and engineering professor Sameh Tawfick led a new study introducing click beetle-sized robots small enough to fit into tight spaces, powerful enough to maneuver over obstacles and fast enough to match an insect’s rapid escape time. Graphic by Michael Vincent

Researchers have made a significant leap forward in developing insect-sized jumping robots capable of performing tasks in the small spaces often found in mechanical, agricultural and search-and-rescue settings.  

Click beetle-inspired robots jump using elastic energy

Widely publicised in the media, there are rising concerns both within the agricultural industry and from government policymakers as to whether food production can keep up with unprecedented future demands.

Digitisation of Agriculture & the Underlying Technology Mandated

Next spring, a small army of Cornell-developed PhytoPatholoBots (PPB) will be deployed to four grape breeding programs across the U.S. on a mission to guide the global grape and wine industry into the 21st century.These autonomous robots will roll through vineyards, using computer vision to gather data on the physiological state of each grapevine. By combining this data with a decade of grape breeding breakthroughs, Cornell researchers are refining the PPB to allow breeders and growers to evaluate their vineyards &ndash; leaf by leaf, in real time, down to the chemical level.The PPB rollout is happening in the first year of a new four-year project at Cornell funded through a nationwide $10 million grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Specialty Crops Research Initiative (NIFA-SCRI), and led by the University of Minnesota. The grant extends NIFA-SCRI&rsquo;s&nbsp;previously funded VitisGen1 and 2 projects, a decade-long collaboration whose national team of Cornell-led scientists discovered many of the genes that control important traits in grapevines, such as disease resistance, insect resistance, and fruit and wine quality. Armed with these valuable new genetic resources, grape breeders across the country have been able to stock their pipelines in record time with new varieties combining high quality and high disease resistance.The new Cornell project focuses on bringing VitisGen&rsquo;s genetic and technological innovations into the vineyard by combining plant pathology, computer vision, AI and robotics. This work is crucial for encouraging growers to embark on widespread plantings of new disease-resistant grape varieties made possible by VitisGen. Nearly all grape varieties grown today are highly susceptible to powdery mildew and downy mildew &ndash; which, for the last 140 years, growers worldwide have managed using multiple applications of chemical fungicides.&ldquo;Adoption of these new varieties alone has potential to reduce pesticide use by 90%,&rdquo; said Lance Cadle-Davidson, co-project director and research plant pathologist at the USDA-ARS Grape Genetics Research Unit at Cornell AgriTech. &ldquo;Now that breeders have introduced natural disease resistance into soon-to-be commercialized varieties, growers need updated guidance.&rdquo;To develop this guidance holistically, Cadle-Davidson has tapped Katie Gold, co-principal investigator and assistant professor of grape pathology at Cornell AgriTech, and applied roboticist Yu Jiang, assistant professor, Horticulture Section in the School of Integrative Plant Science. The team also includes longtime VitisGen leader Bruce Reisch, professor of plant breeding and genetics in the School of Integrative Plant Science, Horticulture Section, and collaborator Qi Sun, co-director of the Cornell Bioinformatics Facility in Ithaca.Gold, who specializes in using imaging spectroscopy for disease detection, will conduct field trials to design low-input disease management programs for new varieties in VitisGen&rsquo;s pipeline. Spectroscopy measures how matter interacts with light and other electromagnetic radiation, with different types of matter producing different spectral signatures. Traditional cameras measure spectral signatures within the visible (RGB) light spectrum. But imaging spectroscopy &ndash; originally pioneered by NASA to study the solar system &ndash; produces data covering a range of electromagnetic radiation seven times larger than what the human eye can see.The PPB took shape during VitisGen2, after Jiang had helped Cadle-Davidson speed the process of evaluating thousands of seedlings in the lab by developing AI-based models to detect and quantify powdery and downy mildew on grapes using digital imaging. Jiang used those models to drive Cadle-Davidson&rsquo;s automated phenotyping RGB microscopy robot, named BlackBird. With BlackBird, Cadle-Davidson&rsquo;s lab saw a 60-fold increase in the number of seedlings they could evaluate, and found that AI also more accurately quantified disease than humans.For this project, Jiang is expanding the PPB&rsquo;s scope with imaging spectrometers (also known as hyperspectral sensors) to scale those VitisGen lab investigations to the vineyard and enable breeders to phenotype grapevines in their natural environment. Gold also will use the newly equipped hyperspectral PPB, or HyperPPB, to &lsquo;see&rsquo; plants at the chemical level. She&rsquo;ll apply this data in the field to detect disease before visible symptoms appear, and in the lab to begin characterizing the mechanisms behind disease resistance &ndash; which is ultimately determined by the complex interplay between a plant&rsquo;s genetic makeup and its environment.&ldquo;Much of the true variation in foliage is captured in wavelengths we can&#39;t see that primarily correspond to chemistry and physiology,&rdquo; Gold said. &ldquo;Hyperspectral has truly shown its ability in detecting and differentiating the multifaceted, less cut-and-dry aspects of disease resistance and infection dynamics.&rdquo;Jiang hopes to commercialize the PPB robot family so growers can monitor disease as well as many other aspects of vine development in their vineyards on a larger-than-ever scale. The collaboration is a prime example of how transdisciplinary research can accelerate the design process for next generation agrifood systems, he said.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re helping breeders target fundamental improvements while enabling them to respond more rapidly to changes, whether predicted or not,&rdquo; Jiang said.Many of those unpredictable changes will be due to climate change, which Gold said is only going to increase disease and pest pressure in New York state, where it&rsquo;s already higher than in other major U.S. grape growing regions. For the state&rsquo;s $15 billion industry to continue to thrive, growers will have to adopt new disease-resistant varieties and precision management methods.&ldquo;Over the course of VitisGen, more than 65 co-investigators have worked together at the cutting edge of technology,&rdquo; said Cadle-Davidson. &ldquo;But what I once thought was cutting edge is nothing compared to what Katie and Yu are bringing to the table. What we can accomplish now is going to be so exciting, powerful and probably revolutionary.&rdquo;

Applied roboticist Yu Jiang, left, assistant professor, Horticulture Section in the School of Integrative Plant Science and Katie Gold, co-principal investigator and assistant professor of grape pathology at Cornell AgriTech, with the PhytoPatholobot. Allison Usavage/Provided

Next spring, a small army of Cornell-developed PhytoPatholoBots (PPB) will be deployed to four grape breeding programs across the U.S. on a mission to guide the global grape and wine industry into the 21st century.

Autonomous robots to help modernize grape, wine industry

Food processing techniques require the removal of moisture from the crop without destroying its nutritional qualities. The article proposes a dehydrator/oven whose temperature and humidity can be perfectly controlled and its generated heat is evenly distributed in its drying chamber.

Conceptual design of smart multi-farm produce dehydrator using a low-cost PLC and Raspberry Pi

Why is asparagus one of the most expensive vegetables in Europe? Because harvesters have to painstakingly pierce each stalk individually. A robot could change this, and engineers at the Bremen Centre for Mechatronics (BCM) are developing one. It works with harvesting tools, which run on precision rails from HepcoMotion &ndash;&nbsp;a specialist in linear guidance systems.Asparagus has been steadily growing in popularity among British consumers, yet for the farmers it means spring time stress. This is because they have to harvest enormous quantities in such a short time &ndash; in 2015 according to the Federal Bureau for Statistics it was 112,100 tons. Work in the fields is arduous and workers have to cut through each individual stalk. It is therefore no wonder that farmers find it more and more difficult to get workers, and because of the cost of wages, are only able to offer asparagus at high prices.Automation is greatly desired, which incidentally has long been taking place in the cultivation of asparagus. It is true that there are numerous approaches, however up to now no machine has been able to outdo humans when it comes to harvesting. Aware of this need, the green asparagus harvesting robotic system project (Garotics) is developing a harvesting robot for green asparagus. The Bremen Centre for Mechatronics (BCM), the packaging machine manufacturer Strauss from Buxtehude, and the British agricultural company C. Wright &amp; Son are also working on this project.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1654602144441-harvesting-robots-could-make-green-asparagus-cheaper-52983-10670462.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">&ldquo;Green asparagus harvesting robotic system&rdquo; (Garotics) is able to work for 24 hours in the fields.&nbsp;<h2>The robot uses a camera system to identify which asparagus stems are ready for harvesting</h2>The basis of the harvester robot is a chassis with four wheels and a front-wheel drive. In the centre between the front wheels there is a camera system installed, which films the green asparagus stems as it goes past. Unlike white asparagus, green asparagus grows above the ground. Photographic processing software then identifies stalks that are ripe for harvesting. &ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t make sense to build a type of lawnmower which mows everything down because the stalks grow at different speeds&rdquo; explains Sebastian Allers, Design Engineer at Strauss. &ldquo;One of the challenges was therefore to implement image processing which can differentiate the different stages of growth.&rdquo;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1654602176895-Spargelerntemaschine_3_web.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">High throughput: Two work tool heads move simultaneously and independently of each other onto two rails positioned one behind the other.&nbsp;<h2>Linear guide rails from HepcoMotion allows exact positioning of the harvesting tool</h2>Software then guides the coordinates of the ripe samples further to the tool head, which is mounted under a hardened and precision-cut linear guide rail made of stainless steel from HepcoMotion. The tool head can travel across the full vehicle width from side to side on a timing-belt-driven carriage.The driving force comes from an AC geared motor with a worm gear, located on the side of the linear guide rail. &ldquo;The motors of the DLS system can have a power of up to 1.1 kW, this gears a reduction of 5:1 up to 75:1, explains Mark V&ouml;lkers, Area Manager Field Sales North Germany at HepcoMotion. &ldquo;This allows driving forces up to 750 Newtons and speeds of up to 1.4 metres per second, with special motors it is possible to achieve 5 metres per second&rdquo;. The harvesting robot works with two tool heads simultaneously, which can move on two rails positioned one behind the other independently of each other &ndash; enabling a high throughput.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1654602228992-Spargelerntemaschine_4_web.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The tool head for harvesting the asparagus stems moves across the whole width of the vehicle via a HepcoMotion belt-driven carriage and a Hepco SL2 linear guide rail.&nbsp;<h2>Ring segments from HepcoMotion allow a swivel movement with only one drive</h2>As soon as the tool head is positioned, it swivels a gripper arm from the back downwards. For this movement the engineers have used another HepcoMotion system: PRT2. The solution involves a spectrum of stainless steel rings and ring segments. They can be linked by straight guide rails to a diversity of open and closed stretches of rail. With the asparagus robot there are 90-degree bends on both sides of the tool head fitted with attached straight pieces. The gripper arm is screwed onto a carriage with V-guide bearings, which are arranged concentrically and eccentrically. These rollers engage from above and below with the induction-hardened V track of the ring segment.The movement is affected by means of a timing belt which pulls the carriage and gripper arm across the 25-millimetre-wide rail thus producing a pivotal movement. The motor is mounted on the outer side of the tool head. &ldquo;The special feature is that thanks to the rail system a linear movement and rotation of the gripper are achieved with only a space-saving drive&rdquo; says Lasse Langst&auml;dtler, Research Assistant of the Bremen Institute for Structural Engineering and Production Equipment (bime), in the faculty of Production Engineering at the University of Bremen. &ldquo;The roller guide also allows the gripper arm to lower relatively quickly, and thanks to the combination of a linear movement and rotation when lowering, it is possible to fit in a small distance between the stalks of two asparagus&rdquo;. &nbsp;A slower movement would have to start earlier which could cause the gripper arm to damage any immature asparagus stems which are not yet ready for harvest. As soon as the gripper arm is lowered, a pneumatic cylinder is triggered to drive a shearing off action and simultaneous gripping of the asparagus while the robot continually moves forwards at 0.5 metres a second. The whole tool head then travels to the side and deposits the asparagus on a conveyor belt.Asparagus is grown in many different countries, which means the environmental conditions are quite diverse (it can be hot or cold, dusty and wet). This was another reason why the engineers decided on HepcoMotion as the system can withstand the rough environmental conditions. &ldquo;The V-guide principle is virtually self-cleaning&rdquo; says V&ouml;lkers. During the carriage&rsquo;s journey, the bearings push the dirt off the rail.&rdquo; In addition, unlike bearing circulation systems, there is no need for greasing as all the components are corrosion-resistant. The asparagus therefore never comes into contact with rust. &ldquo;This is one of the basic requirements that needs to be fulfilled in the food industry.&ldquo;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1654602240298-Spargelerntemaschine_5_web.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The guide systems can withstand the harshest environmental conditions. The V-guide principle from HepcoMotion is self-cleaning.&nbsp;<h2>Field tests</h2>The engineers together with their project partner from England, C. Wright &amp; Son have tested the asparagus harvest machine in real conditions. &ldquo;Among other things with this field test we wanted to find out how long the batteries can supply the machine with energy&rdquo; says Strauss. One of the challenges is also the speed of the harvesting tools. &ldquo;Up to now they have been no faster than human harvesters&rdquo;, but if they had a sufficient supply of energy, they could work in the fields for 24 hours without any problems. This could make harvesting in the future more economic and make asparagus cheaper.

Why is asparagus one of the most expensive vegetables in Europe? Because harvesters have to painstakingly pierce each stalk individually. A robot could change this, and engineers at the Bremen Centre for Mechatronics (BCM) are developing one.