HV-100 by Harvest Automation

Description

HV-100 Robot

Automating farming in nurseries and small farm areas.

The HV-100 is a material handling robot produced by Harvest Automation, a company that provides practical and scalable solutions for the Agriculture industry. This product is designed to work in unstructured environments found in commercial growing operations such as greenhouses, hoop houses, and nurseries. The HV-100 is effective and accurate in handling most common container sizes, and requires minimal training and setup.

HV-100 is a fully automated robot. It can work alongside humans without the need of any special environmental setups. Notably, it is used to execute material handling tasks throughout the year and in all weather conditions. Furthermore, it can sustain temperature in range of 32˚F to 105˚F making it optimum for working in shivering cold as well as scorching heat. Moreover, easy programming techniques as well as quick setup,makes it a farmer friendly product. HV-100 can perform tasks such as Spacing, Collection and arrangement of pots.

Features

The robot operates 24 hours a day, and performs a variety of tasks such as spacing, collection, consolidation, and follow-me.

It has a peak output of 240 pots/hour under ideal conditions. A rechargeable battery with run time of 4-6 hours makes it work for a longer time . It has a payload capacity of 22 lbs. with container diameter in between 5’’ to 12.5’’ and height in range of 5.75’’ to 15’’. These dimensions are  perfect for setting up the pots of variable shapes and sizes. The HV-100 is FCC Class A and CE compliant and can be connected to Wi-Fi and Ethernet for data connectivity allowing robot to cover maximum area. They have automated loading and unloading capability making the owners free up tight labor resources for other tasks.

Case Study

At Metrolina Greenhouses, a formidable task of setting up 40 thousand Poinsettias in 96 hours was up against HV-100. As a matter of fact, with just 4 robots and a supervisor, robots carved their way smoothly to finish line by completing the task in give time frame. Completing this daunting work robots showcased its astounding capabilities. Additionally, these robots are capable of spacing pots in Square or Hex patterns. HV-100’s hex pattern enhanced the space efficiency by 5 to 15% in comparison to the manual labor. (From the case studies presented in https://www.public.harvestai.com/)

Future

Already a great product, future generations of HV-100 may include Sensors and machine learning technologies which would make it more efficient than its predecessor. Even at the current level HV-100 has proven to be a useful with more than 150 of them at work for 30+ customers.

Harvest Automation uses behavior-based robotics, an adaptive approach to automation, for their products. This results in a scalable and robust system architecture that can work in challenging environments. The robots are practical, flexible, and easy to deploy, and do not require significant changes to existing infrastructure or workflows. The company believes in dividing the work between humans and robots to derive the highest value and solve the problems associated with workforce uncertainty.

Founded in 2008, Harvest Automation was established by a team of world-class robotic innovators with the goal of providing practical solutions for the market challenges in material handling for the Nursery and Greenhouse industry. Over 150 HV-100 robots have been deployed, driving operational improvements and reducing production costs while improving productivity.

Robot-as-a-Service or purchase price

The HV-100 is a material handling assistant robot developed by Harvest Automation (USA) for the agriculture industry. The robot is deployed outdoors and is based on a Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) model, with a recurring fee of $5,000 for 4 robots per month.

An unskilled human laborer earns approximately $20,000 per year, while a single HV-100 robot has a purchase price of $30,000.

The HV-100 is a wheeled robot with dimensions of 610 mm in width and 533 mm in height, weighing 100 lbs. It has a maximum load capacity of up to 22 lbs and can work for 4-6 hours.

Key Features and Stats:

• Material handling assistant robot
• Deployed in the agriculture industry
• Outdoor deployment
• Wheeled sub-form
• Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) model with a recurring fee of $5,000 for 4 robots per month
• Dimensions: 610 mm (width), 533 mm (height)
• Weight: 100 lbs
• Max Load: 22 lbs
• Usage: 4-6 hours

How it Works: The HV-100 uses LiDar sensor technology to locate and pick up potted plants, which it then moves according to a set pattern. The robot uses a reflective tape guideline to navigate, which it can detect in various lighting conditions using its proprietary sensor. The robot’s “seek plant” command is then re-triggered, and the process begins again. The HV-100 can work in tough terrain conditions and can safely pause if it detects a human in its path.

With about 10 U.S. buyers of fleets of HV-100s, Harvest plans to expand sales in Europe, where the potted plant market is twice as big as in the U.S.A.