Increasing the efficiency of fruit growing
"Flanders Make conducted a safety study to understand the risks associated with remote-controlled vehicles that can be steered through the rows of your orchard."
Challenge
Technology as an ally for fruit growers
Fruit growing in our region is struggling with high labour costs, competition from cheap imports and a shortage of well-trained personnel. Pcfruit is investigating how automation and a precision approach can increase yields and reduce labour pressure.
Technologies
Precision fruit growing with data and drones
Within the Interreg project ADaM & PreciLa, pcfruit uses drones and data platforms to collect information about individual trees. This allows pruning, fertilising and thinning to be carried out in a targeted manner and only where necessary.
Robotics, sensors and actuators
Improving the core components of robotics and smart machines.
Result
Autonomous vehicles and robot expertise
Together with Flanders Make, BAB Bamps and Octinion, pcfruit is working on autonomous vehicles for spraying and fertilising, as well as robots that can prune, thin and harvest. Projects such as Minman are also looking at how man-hours in pear cultivation can be drastically reduced.
