Strawberry Fields

Under discussion with Marc Jones <marc.jones@antobot.ai>

Problem Statement: Strawberry pickers currently spend a significant amount of time (approx. 20%) manually transporting trays to stations generally at the end of the field. Autonomous logistics robots provide the opportunity to increase productivity by transporting the trays, thus reducing the demand on labour plus increases profit margins for the grower.

Challenge: Create simulation of a typical harvesting scenario in ROS Gazebo and develop an optimised algorithm for efficient multiple robots path planning. Recommend the minimum number of robots required (e.g. scheduling / logic) – too many robots will be complex and potentially too expensive, too few robots will create delays for the pickers and reduce efficiency. Technology recommendations (e.g. sensors) for the robot for optimal human interaction and efficient scheduling.