February 2020 - 8

KANTOR
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
small, lightweight and is becoming less
expensive, he said.
Today, " if you can imagine
something, you can train a computer
to do that, " Kantor said.
In the orchard or vineyard, the three
key words are: mobility, perception
and manipulation, he said.
In past years, " mobility " might
mean just putting a camera on the
back of an ATV oreven putting it on
a wagon " with grad students pushing
it around, " Kantor said. Today,
" autonomous mobility capabilities "
have made a big difference. Now,
researchers use robotic vehicles, that
can be programmed to move up and
down vineyard or orchard rows, even
navigating bumps and ditches.
" Perception " of the system has also
markedly improved.
A more efficient, less cumbersome
unit has been designed to mount
on the robotic vehicle, containing a
camera, lights and computer.
In a huge grape vineyard, for
example, the network can be trained
to count grapes and determine the size
and color of fruit along the rows.
Measurement, predictability
" You can take measurements in
Robotic harvest-assist units, along with crop monitoring systems being deployed with drones are among the technologies being
pursued in the specialty crops industry.
July and predict the yield for the
harvest that's going to take place in
September, " he said. By assessing how
ripe the grapes are in certain parts
of the vineyard, it's even possible to
determine where to send workers first,
to begin harvest. The technology also
can measure the canopy in an orchard
and determine leaf area size. Today,
these more advanced systems take
good pictures in any lighting.
In an orchard, robotic vehicles
can even scout for disease, finding
spots on leaves, for example, Kantor
added, in a conversation with the Fruit
Growers News.
The " really challenging " part of
this new technology is the element
of " manipulation " - or " creating
intelligent mechanisms " for harvesting
and other labor-intensive tasks to help
growers, Kantor said.
Carnegie Mellon researchers are
continuing to make strides in this
arena, with ongoing innovations. For
example, by developing a smaller
version of a camera which can be held
in a robot's " hand " it will be possible
to get up closer to trees and vines for
making pruning decisions.
Studies are currently underway to
use data received in bud counting to
help a robotic system prune in the most
efficient manner. However, the finetuning
necessary, such as having a tree
shaped in a certain way to accommodate
robotic machines, is tricky.
" It's going take a long time, " Kantor
said, to have the complete robotic
system readily available to growers.
" This is coming to your industry, not
next year, or even in five years, but it's
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February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2020