Artificial intelligence developer Universal Logic partnered with Agricultural Robotics to provide the organization with 100 of its Neocortex AI systems to automate agricultural tasks, Universal announced today.
The two companies agreed to the memorandum of understanding following an acceptance test and creating a plant picking and sorter machine by combining the AI systems with robotics.
“Recognizing that no two plants are the same, the solution demonstrates the capability of Neocortex to handle extreme plant variability as well as robot grasping and path planning at high speeds,” Universal Logic vice president Hob Wubbena said in a press release. “We are delighted to partner with ARL.”
By incorporating the Neocortex systems into agricultural robots, the machines will be able to grade the plants and sort them using 3D positioning technology. These capabilities enable high-speed, automated picking and packing of strawberry plants for shipping.
ARL is a group of strawberry plant suppliers who produce 80% of North America’s strawberry plants sold in nurseries. The machines developed through this partnership will serve all members of ARL, meaning the systems are slated to handle 500 million strawberry plants each year, which produce 1.1 million tons of strawberries annually.
“By using industry-leading automation technology, Agriculture Robotics has developed a robotic solution using Neocortex that ensures cost-effective delivery of the highest quality strawberry plants in the market,” Elizabeth Elwood Ponce, ARL member and vice president of Lassen Canyon Nursery, said in the statement.
Universal helps industries automate their supply chains by providing its AI systems, which can be dropped into existing human work cells and be operational within a day.
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