“ When asking grower what the most challenging aspect is for them , the unanimous answer was the selection summons of the slashed hydrangea . ” At 4More Technology , a Dutch company pore on horticultural mechanisation , the team was wonder what the next best automated answer would be . After make their IRISS Roses political machine , which has been assisting Dutch growers for over 6 years , they were looking for a newfangled bloom mixed bag to help oneself growers with . That is when their newest IRISS Hydrangea was created . After about a yr of making its entrance on the market , Tim van der Elst ( Operations Manager ) and Wouter Vreugdenhil ( Managing Director ) excogitate on the benefits that the IRISS Hydrangea has provided cultivator , as well as its future opportunities . Coen Bukman and Tim van der Elst at the IFTF 2021 . In the background knowledge is the paradigm of their young hydrangea sorting machine .
Why hydrangeas?According to Van der Elst and Vreugdenhil , hydrangeas were an interesting sort for them to focalize on . “ hydrangea are relatively expensive blossom . Therefore , a proper selection cognitive process mean that the raiser is getting the most out of their flowers . Hydrangea growers break that the selection summons is one of the most challenging aspects for them . hydrangea are not grown twelvemonth - round , which means that growers have to get new seasonal staff each twelvemonth , with the right training , to successfully sort the hydrangea . The selection process is traditionally done manually , by compute out in which category of flower diameter the prime belong . Not only is this dead reckoning , but they also continue to utilize the same measurements as family , even if the efflorescence sizes may have modify over the years . ” The IRISS Hydrangea camera organisation , however , takes away this dead reckoning and can learn the correct measurements .
plus reviewsAt the moment , three Dutch raiser are being assisted by the television camera system , sorting their hydrangea based on flower diameter , flower control surface , bloom color , and stem distance . “ The system does not needfully spare labor , but it does increase the quality of the pick physical process , and we wanted to provide an low-cost way to do so . ” After just a yr of being at work , the IRISS Hydrangea has been receiving only positive reaction from the growers . “ The fact that the selection is more uniform is very beneficial for them . There was even a cultivator who re - charter one of his previous employees , as the machine was able to improve their employment quality . ”
tell apart unripened from greenStill , the creation of the photographic camera system was not without its challenge . “ While we were able to use our IRISS Roses scheme as the foundation , the biggest challenge was make a proper agency to measure the flower diameter . When you take a photo from the top of the flower , the leave of absence are also cause an appearing . Therefore , the challenge was to not have the leaves included in the measuring . To add to that challenge is the issue that hydrangea blossom can temporarily be immature too . Hhow do you make the organisation spot the immature flowers from the greenish leaf ? It may not have been the easy creation , but we oversee to construct a successful organisation . ”Future opportunitiesHowever , the development of the system is not completed yet , as there are next opportunity on the skyline . “ Many grower want to combine the existing system with an automatise solution for hydrangea handling , in ordering to save labor and abbreviate the strong-arm activity it normally takes . The paradigm of this automobile has been active at a Dutch grower this past time of year , and they are so positive about the solvent that they require to instal a bombastic version for next class . ” The 4More Technology team also sees great opportunities ahead to introduce their resolution to alien growers . In addition , they are always on the hunt for novel floral challenge for which they can find an machine-driven root . For more information:4More TechnologyWouter VreugdenhilTim van der Elst[email protected][email protected]www.4mt.nl
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