The Harvest Automation HV-100 (it is nicknamed “Harvey”) is a plant container moving robot capable of handling all of the plant spacing, consolidation and collection needs in a Nursery or Greenhouse operation.[1][2][3][4] This robot was designed by the American company Harvest Automation, Inc. (it is a robotics startup founded by several former iRobot employees).[5]

HV-100 is targeted at the floriculture industry and is designed to move potted plants on nursery container farms, an application currently done by hand. The plants are first planted in containers (pots) that are then evenly spaced on large fields. As the plants grow they are spaced further apart to give each plant more room to spread out. Later, as the plants are sold, leaving holes in the spaced pattern, they are consolidated into a tighter area.[5]

The mobile robots that do this task are completely autonomous and able to figure out where the plants are and where they should be moved to. They carry one plant at a time, less than the 2 or 4 that humans carry, but the robots don’t need to take breaks. The robots are also designed to be safe around humans, which allows a human laborer to be on the field with the robots to help them do their job.[5]

HV-100 Specification : [2]
Operating Temperature		0 – 41°C
Light Levels		Full sun to full dark
Dirt / Moisture / Dust		All typical conditions including rain / sprinklers
Weight (without payload)		41 kg
Battery Run Time		4 hrs
Battery Charging time		8 hr and 3 hr options
Peak Throughput (under nominal conditions)		200 moves per hour
Maximum Payload Weight		10 kg
Dimensions		610 mm wide x 534 mm tall
I/O data capability		Serial, Wi-Fi, Ethernet
Tasks		Spacing, Collection, Consolidation, Follow Me
Container Types		All common materials and shapes

Flexible to deploy on open beds, hoop houses and greenhouses, the HV-100 can handle any type of plant on all common ground surfaces including concrete, ground cloth, poly, and gravel. HV-100 all-weather robots provide consistent spacing accuracy no matter how long the day is, without breaks, allowing growers to get quality work done whenever they need it.[4]

 

References:

1. Harvest Automation – Tough, Smart Simple Robots. – Mode of access: http://www.harvestai.com/.
2. Harvest Automation – Product data sheet. – Mode of access: http://www.harvestai.com/pdf/HAI-Product-Datasheet.pdf.
3. Harvest Automation Inc. Products & Services | LinkedIn. – Mode of access: http://www.linkedin.com/company/520065?trk=saber_s000001e_1000.
4. HV-100 | LinkedIn. – Mode of access: http://www.linkedin.com/company/harvest-automation-inc./hv-100-23705421/product?trk=biz_product.
5. Harvest Automation. – Mode of access: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvest_Automation.
6. Harvest Automation (harvestai) on Twitter. – Mode of access: https://twitter.com/harvestai.
7. Harvest Automation – North Billerica, MA – Robotics | Facebook. – Mode of access: https://www.facebook.com/harvestai.
8. Harvey: A working robot for container crops | Robohub. – Mode of access: http://robohub.org/harvey-a-working-robot-for-container-crops/.
9. Harvest Automation, Inc. – YouTube. – Mode of access: http://www.youtube.com/user/harvestai.
10. Nursery Robot. – Mode of access: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waa9DOaaTA4.
11. Robot Farming and the Future of Food: Hard Work on Wheels. – Mode of access: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIpelnM1NBE.
12. Worker Bots: Innovation Economy. – Mode of access: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHoce8HHF_Q.
13. Harvest Automation Robot. – Mode of access: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4IP5dEtZJM.
14. Video | Harvest Automation’s Robots Now Follow You Around The Greenhouse | Greenhouse Grower. – Mode of access: http://www.greenhousegrower.com/video/structures-equipment/v-harvest-automations-robots-now-follow-you-around-the-greenhouse/.
15. Agricultural technology: Robots in the shrubbery | The Economist. – Mode of access: http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/09/agricultural-technology.

 

See also:

iRobot Roomba Vacuum Cleaning Robot, MAR-1 Agricultural robot