Scout robot IRIS! won the Innovation Concept Award during the Greentech in Amsterdam! It is the result of cooperation between multiple horticulture companies.
With its multiple sensors, the robot can gather information about the crops. Klaas van Egmond of Delphy explains; “The robot counts fruits, decides on the colour, can recognize diseases and provides information about the climate in the greenhouse. With all of this data the grower knows all there is about the crops.” “With Delphy Digital we can translate the data to then undertake actions for the plant.”
Metazet-FormFlex, Micothon build the hardware, Ecoation worked on the sensor technology, while Delphy provided the growth technical knowledge.
Klaas van Egmond and Aad van den Berg during the Greentech 2018.
Increasing intelligence
“The beauty of artificial intelligence is that the robot will keep growing to be more intelligent in the future. By comparing data from the past to input of a current situation the robot is “understanding” the current situation better.”
Klaas explains that sensors can look at plants in great detail. “If a plant is getting sick it immediately starts producing antibodies. This can’t be seen with the human eye when it is in its early stages. The robot does catch up on this and decides - based on its artificial intelligence - which disease or pest is the cause. That information gets communicated via the app so that the grower can undertake the right actions.”
In Canada, the robot is already available. It is expected that the robot will be available in the Netherlands after the summer.