Robust robot location and behaviors for on-farm navigation.

用于农场导航的强大机器人位置和行为。

• 批准号: 10073593
• 金额: $ 89.21万
• 依托单位: MUDDY MACHINES LTD
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10073593
• 关键词: Robust; robot; location; behaviors; farm

English Growers' ability to obtain the large seasonal (75,000+ strong)(9) workforce needed to harvest field vegetables has been severely impacted by Covid-19, Brexit and declining migrant worker availability across Europe(10). This has become a national crisis that threatens the UK food system's resilience more than any other single challenge(11).According to a report by the National Farmers' Union (NFU), UK farming is facing a significant labour shortage. Up to a quarter of the UK's fruit and vegetable crops could be left to rot in the fields this summer due to a shortage of pickers, packers, and other seasonal workers from overseas(12). The reported crop losses have doubled since 2020(13).According to a report by Farmers Weekly, published on October 13, 2022, labour shortages in the UK farming sector have worsened due to COVID-19 and Brexit, with a significant shortfall of seasonal workers for the 2022 harvest. This has led to delays in harvesting and reduced yields, which has resulted in a shortage of vegetables in UK supermarkets(14,15)."UK farming crisis: quarter of fruit and vegetables at risk of rotting in fields as labour shortage hits,"(16)**"Unprecedented labour shortages have left hundreds of tonnes of produce rotting in the fields"** Financial Times(17,18),**"Labour availability is very tight \[...\] we could have done extra volume \[with more workers\]" (G. Read, Staples Vegetables UK)**Muddy Machines (MM)'s agri-robot, Sprout, is a lightweight (doesn't compact soil), battery-operated (sustainable) robot that selectively harvests vegetables in-field. It has already been demonstrated to selectively harvest asparagus in-field effectively.In this £999.5k, 36-month project, MM and JGHC farms will demonstrate a robust on-farm robotic localisation and navigation system allowing safe harvest execution without unrealistic reliance on RTK-GPS. **This will be achieved through the innovative optimisation of several independent techniques, and safe yet harvest-executing behaviours for on-farm navigation.**This project will open new possible markets for our herd of Sprouts in more varied growing environments.

英国种植者获得收获田间蔬菜所需的大量季节性劳动力（超过 75,000 人）(9) 的能力受到 Covid-19、英国脱欧和整个欧洲移民工人数量下降的严重影响(10)，这已成为一场全国性危机。这对英国粮食系统的恢复能力的威胁比任何其他单一挑战都更大(11)。根据全国农民联盟 (NFU) 的报告，英国农业面临着高达英国四分之一的劳动力严重短缺。由于海外采摘工、包装工和其他季节性工人的短缺，水果和蔬菜作物可能会在今年夏天腐烂(12)。自 2020 年以来，报告的农作物损失增加了一倍(13)。根据 Farmers 的一份报告。 《周刊》于 2022 年 10 月 13 日发布，由于 COVID-19 和英国脱欧，英国农业部门的劳动力短缺情况进一步恶化，2022 年收获季节的季节性工人严重短缺。导致收获延迟和产量下降，从而导致英国超市蔬菜短缺(14,15)。“英国农业危机：劳动力短缺导致四分之一的水果和蔬菜面临田间腐烂的风险”(16 )**“前所未有的劳动力短缺导致数百吨农产品在田间腐烂”**《金融时报》(17,18)，**“劳动力供应非常紧张\[...\]我们本可以做额外的工作\[还有更多工人\]”（G. Read，Staples Vegetables UK）**Muddy Machines (MM) 的农业机器人 Sprout 是一款轻型（不会压实土壤）、电池供电（可持续）的机器人，可以选择性地收割蔬菜它已经被证明可以有效地在田间选择性地收割芦笋。在这个耗资 99.95 万英镑、为期 36 个月的项目中，MM 和 JGHC 农场将展示强大的能力。农场机器人定位和导航系统允许安全收获执行，而无需不切实际地依赖 RTK-GPS **这将通过多种独立技术的创新优化以及农场导航的安全而收获执行行为来实现。**该项目将为我们的豆芽群在更多样化的生长环境中开辟新的可能市场。