ISHS Acta Horticulturae 751: IV International Symposium on Rose Research and Cultivation
CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR ROBOTIZED ROSE HARVESTING |
| Authors: | N.G. Victoria, B. Eveleens, H.J. Van Telgen, P. Van Weel |
| Keywords: | rose, robot harvesting, labor, movable benches, synchronization, Y-bush |
| Abstract:
To reduce labour costs, the rose industry in the Netherlands is working on methods to robotize the harvest. This is nearly impossible given the complexity of the actual rose crop with its considerable leaf mass and many stems in different developmental stages. Movable benches allow cultivation of plants in an area without paths, and transport of the benches along a central working station, considerably simplifying the development of a harvest robot. Prior to the development of the movable benches for rose cultivation PPO researchers, in close cooperation with Dutch growers and industry, performed a series of research projects on the formulated critical success factors. These critical success factors are more plant-technical factors rather than system-technical factors. A selection of these experiments is presented here. In one experiment the growth of plants moving continuously during 16 months was compared to that of immobile plants, and it proved that movement did not affect rose production or quality. Ebb and flood irrigation was tested as a possible alternative to irrigation by drip lines, a system that hinders movement. A simplified plant shape (the Y-bush) with a limited plant canopy and a good visibility of the harvesting point by camera vision technique, was developed in order to adapt the plant architecture to the system suitable for a robot. A method was developed to synchronize the growth of groups of plants so providing a harvesting robot with sufficient harvestable stems at a given time. This method lead to production flushes harvestable within 5 to 7 days. Finally, the performance of the Y-bush was studied at different plant densities and under different growth conditions. The synchronized Y-bush proved to be a good starting point for a robot harvester, but production was limited (two stems per plant). Higher plant densities increased the number of stems, but reduced quality after a few production flushes. | |
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