The urban phenomenon of vertical farms finds robotics as the perfect ally to optimize the development and care of crops.
The quest for healthier food and more sustainable production systems suitable for cities has led to a growing phenomenon: vertical farms.
These are indoor environments where every facet of the climate is controlled, allowing vertical farmers to increase crop production without losing a high percentage of the product due to environmental damage or pests. Additionally, these hydroponic systems have proven to be more efficient in water usage while reducing food waste and enhancing production.
Technologies are collaborating throughout the cultivation process in vertical farms. The most advanced ones are equipped with microsensors designed to capture humidity, temperature, growth rates, and water flow from all cultivation trays. These data are then correlated with water, tray rotation, planting, and light spectrum. The collected data is used to optimize the farm’s operation.
Cloud, machine learning, and the Internet of Things are central technologies in this process, but it is particularly advancements in robotic technology that are providing solutions to the problems currently faced by vertical farmers.
These technologies are more beneficial than other forms of automation because robots do not need to be fixed in a specific location, meaning they can move around the farm as needed. Additionally, multiple actions can be performed by a single robot, they have more than one axis of articulation (ensuring better control), and they can be programmed to adapt to their surrounding environment.
When implemented correctly, robotics can make the act of planting crops much more efficient. Many vertical farms use an automated production line, meaning plant beds pass through a standard assembly line. Unlike fixed production lines, robots can fill beds of different sizes requiring different types of plants.
Once crops are planted, they need to be routinely inspected to ensure growth and quality are maintained. Additionally, although to a lesser extent, plants still need to be monitored to ensure crops remain healthy at all growth stages. In this regard, robots equipped with advanced visual inspection technology can trace plant growth and estimate when they will be ready for harvest.
Certain plant varieties also need to be pruned during the growth cycle. Using traditional automation for this process is challenging because plant growth patterns are relatively unpredictable and doing it by hand can be too time-consuming. Again, robots using vision technology to prune plants after inspecting them are a more suitable option, as well as for pest control and nutrition.
Finally, harvesting is a stage of vertical farming that must be handled carefully. Along with advancements in imaging technology, there have also been improvements in robotic grip control that allow adjusting and calibrating a robot’s grip to ensure crops are not damaged during harvest.
Robotics and artificial intelligence can solve most of the problems faced by vertical farmers, so the adoption of robotics should continue to increase in the coming years. If robots are programmed correctly, with the right data sets and the required algorithmic training, they can handle most of the work involved in a crop growth cycle, thus optimizing the entire end-to-end process.
By Julio Cesar Blanco – April 25, 2023
