From data to harvest
An end-to-end platform for scalable farming
With our end-to-end platform we digitize greenhouse horticulture to enable data driven, predictable, controlled and scalable growth of fruits and vegetables.
Ultimately these automation modules will be integrated to digitize and automate the growth and handling of fruits and vegetables. Besides advantages of an end-to-end automated system in terms of cost reduction and quality optimization, the collective exchange of data will drive new opportunities for the entire value chain.
SortiPack® Cucumber
Harvest crates or bulk containers are automatically tipped. Individual and separated cucumbers are offered to the SortiPack® system. SortiPack® classifies and sorts cucumbers based on weight, length, thickness, curvature and combinations of parameters. This grading takes place much more accurately than traditional technologies resulting in lower give-away (weight) and more uniform packed products.
The system packs the cucumbers directly in customer packages (boxes / bins / trays / punnets) with robots. SortiPack® can pack multiple cucumber sizes, package types and sorting classes simultaneously. As cucumbers are handled individually, (customer) specific stacking patterns can be applied taking also into account real-time data about the product (i.e. length). Completed customer packages are transported to the palletizing area and emptied harvest bins are stacked and automatically returned for re-use.
SortiPack® Beef Tomatoes
SortiPack® scans and classifies individual tomatoes directly from the harvest crates, eliminating the need to tip and tilt the product leading to product damages and waste. Combined data from sensors like geometry, sizes and weight are used to classify the beef tomatoes. Intelligent (AI) algorithms establish the ideal combination, addressing customer recipes, orders whilst minimizing the give-away weight. The robots pick and place the beef tomatoes directly into the correct customer package (box / crate / punnet) for each class.
SortiPack® can pack multiple tomato sizes, package types and sorting classes simultaneously. The system is intelligent leveraging AI algorithms optimizing the speed of the robots and informing the grower when the actual product is deviating from the nominal grade. Completed customer packages will be transported to the palletizing area and emptied harvest bins will be stacked and automatically redirected to the harvest carts to be re-used.
SortiPack® Sweet Pointed Pepper
SortiPack® determines the weight of individual peppers through its highly accurate integrated weighing belt. The individual weight is combined with other date captures such as curvature, length, geometry and orientation. Given the high number of products within the range of the SortiPack® it can optimize product combinations per package type in such a way that give-away weight is minimized. The pointed peppers are packed into the desired package(s) such as trays, flowpacks / bags, and in boxes and crates. SortiPack® can pack multiple pepper sized, package types and sorting classes simultaneously.
SortiPack® Chicory
Individual chicory crops are offered to the SortiPack® system. SortiPack® grades the individual chicory crops by making use of integrated scales and computer vision. The intelligent software algorithms then create the ideal combination of the desired number of products to be packed on trays or flowpacks amongst other package types. The chicory specific gripper is designed to handle the product with care and prevents damage to the crops. Besides the gentle handling, the robot sorts and packs the product more efficiently and with reduced give-away weight.
Data
The SortiPack® Robotic family generates a large set of valuable providing often new insights for growers about their growth, sorting and packing process. These new insights typically lead to process improvements or differentiated product packed uniformly and with high quality.
As the SortiPack® and Harvesting Robotics will evolve and collaborate into our envisioned end-to-end platform, the data and insights will continue to extend with unforeseen and unprecedented value making autonomous and controlled growing a reality.
Examples of valuable data available now and as part of our roadmap:
- Track and tracing (from origin in greenhouse to package)
- Quality Assurance (uniform grades on geometry, size, weight)
- Realtime and historic volume data per product, package, order
- Yield predictions
- Growth per crops, product or row to be integrated with climate, energy, lighting systems or external data platforms
- Settlement data (including qualitative data) per package or batch for packing centers
- Phenotyping data (for breeders)