TRI using generative AI to teach robots; Four Growers on developing harvesting robots
Sep 22, 2023
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CEO and co-founder of Four Growers, Brandon Contino, discusses the technical and business challenges of building robots for greenhouse food harvesting. The podcast also mentions TRI using Generative AI to teach robots dexterous manipulation behaviors.
Greenhouse farming provides a controlled environment for continuous crop growth and fine-tuning of robotics technology.
Four Growers plans to expand automation technology to outdoor farming and explore potential crops based on their technology and market demand.
An agricultural automation platform using AI-powered analytics streamlines the picking process, provides phenotyping data for growers, and contributes to genetic advancements in producing tailor-made crops.
Deep dives
Benefits of Greenhouse Farming
Greenhouse farming offers year-round production and facilitates rapid iteration for technology development. The controlled environment allows for consistent and continuous crop growth, providing ample opportunities to fine-tune robotics technology. Greenhouses are particularly suitable for crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and berries.
Market Potential and Size
The greenhouse farming market is significant, with billions of dollars spent on harvesting each year. The main regions for greenhouse farming are Canada, the US, and Europe, where large-scale greenhouse facilities can cover hundreds of acres. The market for greenhouse-grown produce is driven by the demand for high-quality, locally grown products.
Expansion Plans and Future Applications
Four Growers plans to demonstrate multi-crop capabilities with generalizable technology. Their roadmap includes developing analytics and insights from the data collected during harvests and expanding their automation technology to outdoor farming applications. The company is also exploring potential crops for automation, focusing on crops suitable for their technology and market demand.
Efficient Tomato Picking with Automated Vacuum System
A company has developed an agricultural automation platform that incorporates AI-powered analytics for the ag industry. Their initial application focuses on picking cherry and grape tomatoes in greenhouses, which are labor-intensive and have high market demand. By employing a modular and versatile technology, the company has achieved picking speeds faster than human ability. The system uses a vacuum-based method to safely acquire the tomatoes without damaging them or removing the stems. This approach has proven successful and is now being expanded to other crops like cucumbers. The company's technology has already been adopted by growers in Canada and the Netherlands, resulting in increased yields and operational efficiency. The partnership with a seed company further allows for the development of specialized genetics for optimal harvesting with the robot. The automation platform not only streamlines the picking process but also provides valuable phenotyping data for growers, aiding in decision-making and crop management.
Advantages of Greenhouse Farming and the Role of Analytics
The company has chosen greenhouse farming as the starting point for their automation platform due to its numerous benefits and a market that is continuously growing. Greenhouses offer increased water and land efficiency, allowing for year-round cultivation and fresh, high-quality produce even in winter. The automation platform provides not only labor savings but also analytics capabilities to support growers in decision-making. Working closely with growers, the company collects extensive data on yields, plant health, and other variables. This data, combined with advanced analytics, helps optimize operations, predict yields, and improve overall crop management. By collaborating with a major seed company, the platform also contributes to genetic advancements in producing varieties specifically tailored for mechanized harvesting. The company's successful partnerships and deployments in Canada and the Netherlands highlight the potential of automation in revolutionizing agricultural practices.
This week's podcast focuses heavily on the agricultural robotics industry. Mike shares his insights from FIRA USA and we sit down with Brandon Contino, CEO and co-founder of Four Growers, a startup building robots to harvest foods grown in greenhouses. Brandon talks about the technical and business challenges related to the robot and how focusing on greenhouses helps product evolution,
We also recap the stories of the week, including how Toyota Research Institute is using Generative AI to help robots learn dexterous manipulation behaviors. TRI is looking to build Large Behavior Models for robots, akin to Large Language Models (LLMs) for conversational AI.
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