Artificial intelligence (AI) to help in the orchard and vineyard WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU Working in orchards or vineyards requires workers to make lots of decisions. How you prune or harvest can affect the quality of our fruit. Many of these decisions rely on your skills. This means you contribute to the quality of the fruit and ultimately the sucess of the orchard and vineyard.
THE EXPORT APPLE EXAMPLE Better quality and right sized apples earn more, particularly in exports. Thinning the right fruitlets earns the grower more money and they can give you work next season. We want to help improve the work quality. This means we need to give you ways to make better decisions and do the best quality work everytime.
WHAT WE’RE PROPOSING We call it Human Assist. It’s about adding exciting new technology to the way you work. Wearable devices and AI systems will record and interpret your actions. All the information about the plants, weather, and your activities will be turned into advice to help you work more efficiently and make better decions. You will also gain new skills working with technology that you may find interesting and may be helpful in the future.
For more information about Human Assist, read Becoming An Expert Orchard Or Vineyard Worker.
Becoming an expert worker in the orchard or vineyard WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU Human Assist will change the way you work. Wearable devices and artificial intelligence (AI) systems will help you work more efficiently and make more consistent decisions. You will also gain new skills that employers will want in the future.
HOW THIS WORKS WITH PRUNING 3
AUGMENTED REALITY
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1. Time of flight camera 2. RGB-D camera (depth sensor) 4 3. Augmented realty display 4. LIDAR (pulsed lazer light to image) 5. Power pack 5 6. Embedded computer 7. Electric lopper
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The technology records the way your arms move. We can find out which movements are the most efficient. We can then show you how to prune the most efficient way. This saves time for you and the grower. It lowers the grower’s costs. It improves profitability.
YOUR NEW SKILLS CAN MAKE YOU MORE EMPLOYABLE • be more efficient • make better decisions and do higher quality work • become a tech-augmented expert worker who will be in high demand
For more information about what we’re proposing, read Artificial Intelligence (Ai) In The Orchard And Vineyard.
New technology to improve our orchard and vineyard industries WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU Orchards and vineyards are starting to invest in what’s called human assist tools for decision automation. This includes contactless optical, microwave and acoustic sensors for couting and sizing objects in the trees and vines. The sensors will capture information about the place, size and quality of the fruit crops. They will also pick up how you’re working in areas such as hand thinning or pruning. The data will be used to identify how: • you can work more efficiently and consistently • certain arm/hand gestures are more effective for the crop than others • better decisions can be made about pruning, thinning or harvesting • growers can improve the quality of their fruit and, therefore, their profitability.
WE’RE CALLING THIS “HUMAN ASSIST” We have two goals: • Making the most of labour-intensive tasks • Creating a tech-augmented expert workforce in our orchards and vineyards. This is where you come in.
HOW YOU WILL BENEFIT • You will advance your current skills or learn new work skills by using the technology • Workers who upskill will become highly sought after • Those who upskill will become tech-augmented workers.
Human Assist is an opportunity to become a high-tech worker.
Human Assist We want to increase the quality and efficiency of work to improve the crop performance and the profitabilty of the orchard and vineyard. We aim to achieve this by: • Pairing workers with new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), contactless optical, microwave and acoustic sensors • Using technology to show how we might make labour‑intensive task more uniform, efficient and easier to learn • Using data and AI technology to upskill workers in making decisions and performing tasks We know there is a significant gap in workers available for global fruit industries. We expect Human Assist to help fill that gap with high-quality, tech-augmented workers.
Who we are This research project is a partnership between the universities of Auckland, Waikato, Canterbury, and Otago; Lincoln Agritech and Plant & Food Research. It is supported by a grant from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (Contract UOAX1810).
Contact Programme Manager maaratech@auckland.ac.nz