Research
Improving obstacle awareness for robotic harvesting of sweet-pepper.
Natural products are characterised by a great variation in shape, color, ripeness, cultivars that is intensified by seasonal changes and weather variations. In the PhD thesis of TechNature’s founder Wouter Bac one can read that this natural variation forms a big challenge in automating complex tasks such as selective harvesting of sweet-pepper. Dealing better with natural variation in automation was one of the motivators to initiate TechNature. The thesis is publicly accessible through the library of Wageningen University and Research. Via: http://edepot.wur.nl/327202
List of publications:
Bac, C. W., Hemming, J., Van Tuijl, B. A. J., Barth, R., Wais, E., & Van Henten, E. J. (2017). Performance evaluation of a harvesting robot for sweet-pepper. Journal of Field Robotics, DOI: 10.1002/rob.21709.
Bac, C. W., Roorda, T., Reshef, R., Berman, S., Hemming, J., & Van Henten, E. J. (2016). Analysis of a motion planning problem for fruit harvesting in a dense obstacle environment. Biosystems Engineering, 146, 85-97.
Bac, C. W., Van Henten, E. J., Hemming, J., & Edan, Y. (2014). Harvesting robots for high-value crops: state-of-the-art review and challenges ahead. Journal of Field Robotics, 31(6), 888-911.
Bac, C. W., Hemming, J., & Van Henten, E. J. (2014). Stem localization of sweet-pepper plants using the support wire as a visual cue. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 105, 111-120.
Bac, C. W., Hemming, J., & Van Henten, E. J. (2013). Robust pixel-based classification of obstacles for robotic harvesting of sweet-pepper. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 96, 148-162.
Bac, C. W., Grift, T. E., & Menezes, G. (2011). Development of a tabletop guidance system for educational robots. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 27(5), 829-838.
Conference Papers:
Hemming, J., Bac, C.W., Van Tuijl, B., Barth, R., Bontsema, J., Pekkeriet, E., & van Henten, E. (2014). A robot for harvesting sweet-pepper in greenhouses. Paper presented at the International Conference of Agricultural Engineering, 6-10 July 2014, Zürich, Switzerland. URL: http://www.geyseco.es/geystiona/adjs/comunicaciones/304/C01140001.pdf
Bac, C. W., Hemming, J., & Van Henten, E. J. (2013). Pixel classification and post-processing of plant parts using multi-spectral images of sweet-pepper. Paper presented at the IFAC Biorobotics Conference, 27-29 March, Sakai, Japan. IFAC Proceedings Vol. 1 (PART 1), p. 150-155.
Van Henten, E. J., Bac, C. W., Hemming, J., & Edan, Y. (2013). Robotics in protected cultivation. Paper presented at the Agricontrol Conference, Espoo, Finland. IFAC Proceedings Vol. 4 (PART 1), p. 170-177.
Bac, C.W., Grift, T.E., Bhalerao, K., Menezes, G. (2009). A laser based tabletop localization system for educational robots. Paper presented at the ASABE Annual International Meeting. ASABE 2009, Vol. 1, p. 180-192.
Poster presentations:
Bac, C. W., Hemming, J., & Van Henten, E. J. (2014). Detecting plant parts of sweet-pepper using pixel classification and post-processing. Poster presented at the Netherlands Conference on Computer Vision (NCCV), 24-25 April, Ermelo, The Netherlands. URL: http://edepot.wur.nl/318917
Bac, C. W., Hemming, J., & Van Henten, E. J. (2012). Robust pixel-based classification of sweet-pepper plant parts using multi-spectral imaging. Poster presented at the EPPN Plant Phenotyping Workshop, 13-14 September, Wageningen, The Netherlands. URL: http://library.wur.nl/WebQuery/wurpubs/fulltext/231808