Padma Agrobotics LLC

This Project Aims to Develop an Automated Robotic Harvester for Cilantro and Other Specialty Crops That Are Harvested in Bunches. Currently, This Is a Labor-intensive Task That Takes Up to 50% of Total Costs. Automating This Task Would Mean Reducing Opex for Farms by 40%-50% and, More Importantly, Tackling the Huge Labor Shortage Currently Affecting the Agricultural Sector. This Will Permit to Grow Produce That Is Nowadays Economically Unviable Due High Labor Costs, Thus Reducing the Need to Import Cilantro and Other Specialty Crops and Making Us Internationally More Competitive.phase I Will Focus on Developing a Proof-of-concept Prototype and Test the Operation With Real Cilantro in an Iterative Design Process. the Principal Technical Challenge Is the Stem Collection and Bunching System, Which Requires Complex and Precise Mechatronics to Accurately Detect, Cut, Extract, Transfer and Bunch the Cilantro Stems Into a Precise Size, Which Are Later Tied. Both the Tying System and the Autonomous Moving Platform That Traverses the Cilantro Beds Will Represent a Lesser Challenge, as the Company Has Already Developed Working Prototypes That Only Need to Be Adapted.to Our Knowledge, No Such System Exists in the Market, in Spite of the Growing Need, Representing a High-risk Endeavor.this Proposal Addresses the Topic Area 8.13 Plant Production and Protection (engineering), Specifically Its Research Priority 1. Improved Crop Production Methods or Strategies, and Its Topics:technologies That Enhance Commercial Horticulture Production,production, Harvesting, and Postharvest Handling of Specialty Crops, Andcyber-physical Systems to Support Precision Agriculture.