ALTEN, in collaboration with a Dutch company specialized in machines and mechatronic systems, develops an innovative solution to automate the leaf cutting process in greenhouses.
The solution uses artificial intelligence, algorithms, and path planning to achieve this. The system moves around in the greenhouse by means of navigation. While driving, the system will stop at specified distances, takes an image of the crop, that is analyzed by multiple algorithms, so the exact position and orientation of the gripper are determined. Using a SCARA robot, in combination with a self-developed gripper, the system moves towards the cucumber leaf to cut it according to the guidelines of the greenhouse grower.
ALTEN activities
- Design of scalable, modular software architecture
- Development of modular software modules
- Stakeholder management & Priority management
- Supporting hardware design
- Hardware-software interfacing
- Software testing, hardware testing, and full system testing
- Code quality assurance
ALTEN added value Knowledge
- Object Oriented programming
- Agile software development, SCRUM
- Robot simulation, robot motion planning, and robot test automation
- Full-stack development
- Multibody dynamics
- Control theory and linear algebra
Software and skills
- Microsoft Azure Devops, GIT, CI/CD
- C++, Python
- Unit test, Pytest, codestyling: PEP8, FLAKE8
- CANopen, MQTT, serial-socket, UDP/TCP-socket
- ROS2, RVIZ, Gazebo, Moveit, Smacc2, ReactiveX
- Docker
- JSON, YAML, XML, XACRO, URDF
Result
ALTEN has developed a functional system for cucumber cultivation. After the endurance tests in the greenhouses, the system will be further optimized in collaboration with the grower and greenhouse employees.
