User-centric adoption of sustainable farming operation involving ICT and robotics - Case: Grassland harvesting operations for biogas and bio refinery plants
Final report
User-centric adoption of sustainable farming operation involving ICT and robotics - Case: Grassland harvesting operations for biogas and bio refinery plantsCall: ICT and Automation for a Greener Agriculture
Id: 14304
Acronym: GrassBots
Duration:
Tuesday, 6 September, 2016
Consortium:
| No | Partner | Contact | Country | Total 1000€ | Funded 1000€ | Funder |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Coord. | Department of Engineering Aarhus School of Engineering Aarhus University | Claus Sørensen | Denmark | 58.5 | 48.2 | Danish AgriFish Agency Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries |
| 2 | Faculty of Engineering University of Southern Denmark | Rasmus Nyholm Jørgensen | Denmark | 35.0 | 28.0 | Danish AgriFish Agency Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries |
| 3 | Harper Adams University College | Simon Blackmore | United Kingdom | 21.7 | 0.0 | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs |
| 4 | Department of Automation and Systems Technology School of Electrical Engineering School of Science and Technology Aalto University | Timo Oksanen | Finland | 62.9 | 44.0 | Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry |
| 5 | Agro Business Park | Simon Poulsen | Denmark | 11.0 | 3.0 | Danish AgriFish Agency Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries |
| 6 | Agro Intelligence ApS | Ole Green | Denmark | 95.0 | 47.0 | Danish AgriFish Agency Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries |
| 7 | Conpleks Innovation ApS | Tom Simonsen | Denmark | 67.8 | 30.1 | Danish AgriFish Agency Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries |
| 8 | Lynex | Jens Hansen | Denmark | 48.2 | 4.6 | Danish AgriFish Agency Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries |
| 9 | Crop Production Technogy Plant production technology Crop Technology Plant Production Research Senior Research Scientist MTT Agrifood Research Finland | Antti Suokannas | Finland | 34.0 | 17.0 | Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry |
Links:
Main results:
Main results include targeted system design, machine and implement adaptation and operations planning tools. The Danish GrassBot machine has been adapted into a prototype version of an autonomous workable grass cutting machine. This has involved the original GrassBot machine being retrofitted with sensors and a robot computer enabling functionalities like velocity control, remote operation, autonomous navigation using static way points, etc. The Finnish APU-module has been adapted to a commercial mower and the combined operation was operating in field tests 2013 and 2014. Capacity and fleet dimensioning tool have been developed and has been used for estimating capacity and energy consequences for different configurations of handlings systems for lowland grass harvest. An adapted route and
Exploitation:
Commercialization Lynex:
The retrofitted GrassBot has received much interest for the whole autonomous concept as such. However, the key obstacle for further commercialization is the price. Concrete negotiations between Lyniex and a potential foreign actor interested in the complete concepts is currently undergoing.
Commercialization Conpleks:
After having delivered the robotics hardware and auto-steering and positioning software as agreed as part of the work packages of the GrassBots project, Conpleks has continued to further develop a generic OEM robotics software package, ready to be integrated on agricultural robots, e.g. for grass cutting and other agricultural or field robot applications.
Currently, Conpleks is in cooperation with three domestic and one International company,
Publications:
Dissemination:
The project and its results have been disseminated and communicated continuously over the course of the project period. These activities have included press releases, conference presentations, public demonstrations, scientific articles, etc. A list of these activities is shown below:
Press, demonstrations, etc.:
• Field test July 2013 in Nørreådal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMjEUrB5C5I
• Public demonstration September 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYUAc_63o3g
• From meadow to methane: robots to increase biomass utilization, February 17, 2014 http://www.besustainablemagazine.com/cms2/from-meadow-to-methane-robots-for-harvesting-meadow-grass-to-increase-biomass-utilization/
• CIOSTA in DK (3-5 July 2013) http://ciosta.org/www.ciosta.org/
• Agritechnica in GER(10-16 November 2013) http://www.agritechnica.com/home-en.html?&L=9
• 21st and 22nd of May: Grassland & Muck 2014 exhibition in UK. With demonstration of Harper Adams safe system as an interactive part of the GrassBots exhibition. http://www.grasslandevent.co.uk/
• 30th of May to 1st of June: Roskilde farm show 2014. GrassBots exhibition in DK.. http://www.roskildedyrskue.dk/
• 3rd to 5th of July: The National Farm show in Herning 2014. GrassBots exhibition in DK. http://www.landsskuet.dk/
• September 24th, 2014: GrassBots demonstration, final in-field demonstration in DK
• August 28th, 2014: Public demonstration of large scale grass harvest in Finland
• 25-28 November 2014: Presentation at Agromek 2014, Herning Denmark
• Video: http://vimeo.com/109791887. Oktober 2014
• https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/+RasmusNyholmJ%C3%B8rgensen/albums/6061033209885252609. 19 – 21 Sept. 2014
• TV Midt/Vest: http://www.tvmidtvest.dk/nettv/?id=37820. 24 Sept. 2014
Illustrations:
Approved:
1
Proposal summary:
Lowland areas and other marginal areas form a huge and currently unused resource of biomass for the biogas and bio refinery industry. Alone for Denmark, it has been estimated that 160-180.000 hectares of unused lowland could be harvested if the appropriate technology was available. This project will develop a novel lightweight, autonomous machine concept for economically and environmentally sound harvest of grass on lowland. The project will adapt an existing commercial mower into an autonomous robot platform, develop implements for cutting, collecting and transporting the harvested material out of the field and develop software to plan, schedule, document and visualize the harvest operation. Additional, the concept will be demonstrated in three countries under realistic field conditions,
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