New ROBOLAB and DATALAB to accelerate robotisation in greenhouse

New ROBOLAB and DATALAB to accelerate robotisation and digitisation in greenhouse horticulture

Westland Alderman Peter Valstar opened a ROBOLAB and DATALAB at Tomatoworld that will play an important role in this. Head- and hands-free growing is the future and working more efficiently is more urgent than ever. Repetitive work is now often done manually while labour accounts for 30% of the cost price. That has to change. Technology has all kinds of solutions ready, but what do you bet on as a grower? Robocrops helps growers take the next technological step and ensures that growers, technology, science and government are seamlessly connected.

First test and validate and then move into real practice

It is important to move from small-scale science and testing to testing and validation in a realistic practical environment in time. This is not always possible with growers because of virus pressure. In the greenhouse at Tomatoworld, digitalisation had already been deployed, making it a logical step to expand this place into a field lab where robotisation can also be applied.

With funds from MRDH, Municipality of Westland and NXTGEN Hightech Agrifood, the cultivation facilities were optimised and the ROBOLAB and DATALAB, which opened today, were realised. In the DATALAB, companies with digital innovations for greenhouse horticulture can experiment with data, dasboards and digital twin applications. The ROBOLAB is a place to work on the robots being tested. All the necessary materials are available here and have already been decontaminated to minimise the virus risk.

Working together accelerates the transition

The NXTGEN High-tech Growth Fund programme greenhouse horticulture involves several tech companies working on the development of further digitalisation, robotisation and automation. The facilities of the field lab not only help to provide one realistic practical environment for testing and validation, but also a place to meet. Tech companies can spar with each other, come up with new ideas and contribute their knowledge. In addition, it is very important that growers can see how an innovation works in practice. Another important target group for the field lab are knowledge institutions and students. Robocrops cooperates with TU Delft and WUR but also with FME, TNO, Tomatoworld, Horti Heroes and World Horti Center. And of course we are also very happy with the support of the Municipality of Westland, MRDH and Province of South Holland, in projects like this. You need each other to accelerate the transition to digitisation, robotisation and automation. Only then will the Netherlands remain a leader in greenhouse horticulture.

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