How can “robotics” be a benefit to a business?

In June this year, the second edition of the Greentech will be held in Amsterdam. In a special series of Q&A articles, Greentech takes a look at the future of technology in horticulture. Jochen Hemming, senior researcher and project leader at Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture kicks off GreenTech's Q&A. His research is focused on developing new robotic and mechatronic solutions and on the optimization of existing concepts. He shares his vision on the future of robotics and how robotics can benefit business. Also, find out where he finds his creative inspiration.

Please tell us what you do with robotics.
I work as senior researcher and project leader at the contract research institute Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture in the Netherlands. My research is focused on developing new robotic and mechatronic solutions and on the optimization of existing concepts together with industry and international partners. Two key ingredients in this field are computer vision and artificial intelligence which are used to control robots, to sort, and to assess the quality of horticultural and food products and to detect pests and diseases.

How can “robotics” be a benefit to a business?
Like in other industries robots can take over monotonous work and physically heavy work and also dangerous work (e.g. working with chemicals for plant protection) in the horticultural sector. Robots with new types of sensors might spot problems in your crop earlier and better than we can do today. Robots perform in the same way all the time which makes them more predictable than humans. This will result in more constant and better quality of the product.

The future of robotics
Rapid development in hardware, software and artificial intelligence will continue and even intensify in the future. In 10 years’ time it will be very common to have robots at home that mow your lawn, trim your hedges and water your plants. Robots will become everyday devices that can learn from humans how to perform a certain task and robots will be able to collaborate with humans in a safe way.

Already today there are machines available in agriculture that follow a given path and that perform mechanical weeding with the help of machine vision systems and centimeter precision GPS sensors. Soon these systems will navigate, operate and cooperate autonomously to a great extent.

In 10 years we will have commercial robots in the greenhouse that are able to harvest products like tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers and that also can perform some crop maintenance. Crop scouting (inspecting the health status of plants) is something these robots will perform on the go while they are navigating through the greenhouse, possibly supported by other devices such as drones. Robots in sorting lines will inspect every single product with sensor technology that is superior to human capabilities while packaging. This will allow very custom tailored deliveries.

From your perspective, what is the greatest challenge facing growers today?
The worldwide number one challenge is the availability of fresh water, also for growers. However, in the Netherlands we might have rather too much than too little of it. This challenge is followed by the increasing costs for energy and then the availability of skilled labour.

Where do you personally seek creative inspiration?
For progress in artificial intelligence and robotics you can get much inspiration from the research labs of the big players such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft and also from recent developments in the computer gaming world. I also look into other industries like the medical sector or the automotive industry.

What was the best advice you have ever been given?
If you have a good idea, it may take years to see it realized. Don’t get distracted by short term actions and intermediate knockbacks. Keep following your vision and stay true to yourself.

GreenTech 2016 will be held on June 14-15-16 in Amsterdam. For more information: www.greentech.nl