Henning Tangen Søgaard

Hortibot: An Accessory Kit Transforming a Slope Mower into a Robotic Tool Carrier for High-Tech Plant Nursing - Part I

Danish organic outdoor gardeners today use 50-300 hours per hectare for manual weeding. Through automatic controlling of an existing commercial machine this often heavy and cost-consuming weeding will be eliminated. At the same time, a fully-automatic registration of field activities will contribute to the efficient implementation of EU directive 178/2002 concerning traceability in the primary production and thereby enhance the food-safety in the production chain. A radio controlled slope mower, Spider ILD, is equipped with a new robotic accessory kit. This transforms it into a tool carrier (HortiBot) for high-tech plant nursing for e.g. organic grown vegetables. The HortiBot is capable of passing over several parcels with visible rows autonomously based on a with a new commercial row detection system from Eco-Dan a/s with minimum use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS). Further unskilled workers will be able to operate the basic functions of the HortiBot within one hour of training and by using a pictogram as an operational guide. Traceability in the Hortibot will be available online and in real time since all operational data will automatically be sent to an internet based database. This paper presents the solutions chosen for the HortiBot with regard to hardware mechanicalelectrical interfaces and software. Two accompanying papers at this meeting, part II and III, covers the following project related subjects: II - Application of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) Method for Horticultural Robotic Tool Carrier Design Planning; III - HortiBot: Comparison of potential present and future phytotechnologies for weed control.