Teaching Human Learners to teach Robot Learners.Supporting future horticultural robotics engineers through the Growbotics Schools Workshop Series: Many thanks to Kernock Park Plants, J&A Growers, and Winchester Growers who are industry representatives providing advisory support for this project. Key research themes in this project include Programming by Demonstration, Robot Learning Systems, Human Robot Interaction, and Biosignal Measurement and Control. ![]() By developing robots which can be used directly by growers to address the challenges they face, we can empower them to more easily leverage their horticultural knowledge and reduce the amount of repetitive labour-intensive tasks they must now do by hand. This project is motivated by real concern in the horticulture industry over the rising skills-gap crisis due to reducing numbers of people entering the industry at all levels. is focused on providing high-quality variety, these challenges result in growers needing large teams of people to keep up with demand. Given that much of the growing which takes place in the U.K. These types of more traditional automation systems require large quantities of single varieties of plants to be cost effective, something which does not suit a lot of horticultural production outside of the likes of tulips or roses. Handling of plant material is a task that many people can perform without much concentrated effort (picking a flower, organising flowers in a vase, etc.) however the light, flexible, and fragile nature of plants and flowers makes them extremely challenging to grasp with a robotic manipulator.Īutomation in horticulture is possible however currently the systems used are large and expensive, and most critically are typically limited to working with a single or limited variety of plants at any time. It will investigate ways in which non-expert users (i.e., those without technical expertise in robot programming and control), but that are nevertheless skilled in plant processing, can use robots in their work, to relieve them of the more repetitive, labour-intensive tasks encountered.Īutomation in Horticulture presents many interesting challenges for robotics. This project will explore the use of new, human-robot interactive, soft robotic systems and their application for semi-automated propagation of multiple varieties of ornamental plants. Funding body: Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board - AHDB
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