Automonous Greenhouse Challenge nearing final stages

The teams tested their algorithms and gained experience during a first crop cycle with lettuce. The teams now prepare for the final crop cycle to determine the winner.

The goal of the Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge is to grow lettuces in two crop cycles fully autonomously with an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm on a cloud platform with good quality and little resource and energy use, and without any human interference, in the experimental greenhouses of Wageningen University & Research (WUR) in Bleiswijk, the Netherlands.

The first crop cycle of the third Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge started on February 2 with the planting of cultivar 'Salanova'. Five teams (Team CVA, Team digitalcucumber, Team MondayLettuce, Team VeggieMight, Team Koala) participated in the first try-out experiment to test their algorithms and gain experience. The reference greenhouse was operated by WUR organizers. The goal was to maximize net profit of the lettuce cultivation.

Each team had a compartment at its disposal in the greenhouse with standard climate sensors and equipment. The teams' algorithms had to determine the set points for temperature, amount of daylight and artificial light, heating, CO₂ concentration, and cultivation-related parameters such as crop density. Vision technology provided the teams with online status information. The teams' algorithms were mounted on a virtual machine on a protected WUR server. Data from the greenhouse is received via a digital interface from LetsGrow and Azure Cloud. At the same time, the algorithms autonomously send setpoints back to the process computer, which ultimately takes the action on climate control in the experimental greenhouse.

Teams followed different climate strategies, varying in temperature, assimilation additional LED light. and CO₂ application. This resulted in different growth duration, use of resources, and lettuce head weights. Crop spacing strategies also varied, resulting in averages plant densities from 24 to 38 plants/m2. As a result, growth duration varied: dates of harvest ranged from March 10 to March 21, and average plant weight at harvest varied from 138 to 320 g.

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Source: HortiBiz