Small Robots for Agriculture

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1 Small Robots for Agriculture Joseph L Jones Founder & CTO Harvest Automation, Inc. February 20-22, 2013 Orlando World Marriott Center Orlando, Florida USA

2 Joseph Jones MIT AI Lab research staff nine years Author of robotics books 15 years at irobot first full time employee Co-inventor of Roomba Co-founder/CTO Harvest Automation

3 Harvest Automation Founded 2007 by four irobot alumni Currently ~40 employees Practical robots for agriculture First product in Nursery & Greenhouse market Product launch underway Harvest robots will feed the world by 2025

4 Topics First mobile robot for N&G Industry Motivation for this application Principles for successful robots Technological needs of future robots

5 Nursery & Greenhouse Industry

6 Behind the Scenes

7 Manual Plant Spacing

8 HV-100 (Harvey): Autonomous Mobile Robot

9 Plant Spacing Concept

10 Plant Spacing at Customer Site

11 Plant Maintenance Concept

12 Potted Plants Really? What would make anyone wake up one morning and decide they're going to make little robots that move potted plants? CNET

13 How are Robots Like Sea Turtles?

14 Checklist for Robotic Survival The Proposed Robot: Does something lots of people want done Can be built using existing technology Is cost competitive with current solutions Market Technology Cost

15 Market: Large and Neglected $2.5 B $17 B

16 Market: Customer Pain Help Wanted Heavy lifting Repetitive motions Seasonal Weather extremes High injury rates Low pay Result Undesirable work Scarce labor 80% undocumented Unreliable Inefficient practices

sensor Off-the-shelf range sensor Off-the-shelf

17 Technology: No Research Grants Needed One degree of freedom manipulator Photodiode-based boundary sensor Off-the-shelf range sensor Off-the-shelf batteries & charger No inter-robot communication

18 Technology: Re-imagine the Task

19 Cost: Minimize Small size No RTK GPS ( 2 cm accuracy) Simple manipulator and gripper Simple UI minimal worker training Nothing superfluous, every sub-system earns it keep GPS 6 dof arm

robust to unit failures Non-small robot Junior: A Robot for

20 Small is Beautiful Small/light advantages Inherently safe Works in confined spaces Lower entry cost/scalable System robust to unit failures Non-small robot Junior: A Robot for Outdoor Container Nurseries, H. Schempf, 2002 CMU, NASA, ANLA

help How to search - Brainstorm - Be opportunistic - Visit promising

21 Unearthing New Robot Applications Hard to find because: - Roboticists don t know industry details - Potential customers don t know robots can help How to search - Brainstorm - Be opportunistic - Visit promising sites Evaluate application - Market size/customer need - Technology - Cost

22 Qualifying Applications irobot Roomba vacuum - On market 10+ years, >7M sold Aethon hospital tug installations, 14 years in business Kiva warehouse robot - Many installations, company sold for $750M Precise Path golf greens mower - Beginning customer sales

23 Many (Urgent) Opportunities in Agriculture By 2050 the world must increase food production 70% but use no more water or land than is available today. * *UN/FAO report How to Feed the World in 2050 Rome, 2009

24 Lavishing attention on crops produces impressive yields

25 but attention lavishers are hard to find

26 Robots can supply the missing labor

27 Hexagonal planting 15% greater yield

28 Polyculture Reduce loss to pests Improves soil

29 Strategic Pruning Less plant structure More fruit

30 Multiple Harvests Take fruit only at peak Immature fruit continues to ripen

31 Robotic monitoring enables optimal application of: Crop protection chemicals Water Fertilizer Micro-nutrients

Specific Advantages of Small Ag Robots Small

degrades soil health and reduces yield Operate

soil, eliminate pests Work safely alongside farm

32 Specific Advantages of Small Ag Robots Small robots can: Eliminate soil compaction - Compaction degrades soil health and reduces yield Operate under the canopy - Season-long access to measure soil, eliminate pests Work safely alongside farm workers - Workers/robots can do the job most appropriate to each

33 The Downside of Big Step 1: Build a robot able to cause tremendous damage Step 2: Keep adding sensors, writing code, and doing tests until you re certain it never will

34 Challenge Areas for New Tasks

necessarily vision-based) Weed eradication mechanism Pest sensing

35 Application System HAI example 1 DoF container manipulator Sensor to identify containers Future applications Weed detection (not necessarily vision-based) Weed eradication mechanism Pest sensing Soil sensing Crop health monitoring system Harvesting mechanism for specific crop

Depth camera, sunlight resistant Low-cost, high accuracy (non-gps?

36 Navigation System HAI example Laser ranger Shaft encoders, gyroscope Boundary sensor and tape Dubins-based motion planner Future developments Depth camera, sunlight resistant Low-cost, high accuracy (non-gps?) positioning system Visual odometry Kinodynamic planner that respects all robot constraints

37 Mobility System HAI example Differential drive and roller Future developments New high mobility/low complexity and low cost Soil/suspension research to avoid washboarding

38 Hazard Detection System HAI example Laser range finder Future developments Detection of non-geometric hazards

39 Power System HAI Example Lithium-ion batteries Future developments Practical fuel cells High energy density power source

40 Questions?

85 Rangeway Road Billerica, Massachusetts 01862

41 Contact Information Joseph L Jones Founder & CTO Harvest Automation, Inc. 85 Rangeway Road Billerica, Massachusetts USA Phone: (978) joe.jones@harvestai.com Web:

Learning and Model-based Approaches in Logistics

1 Learning and Model-based Approaches in Logistics Report from the field. Where are we now? Where are we going? Magazino GmbH Landsberger Str. 234 80687 München T +49-89-21552415-0 F +49-89-21552415-9