Aichi team develops self-driving robots to tackle labor shortage in farming

Amid a severe shortage of manpower, a team comprised of researchers from private companies and a university in Aichi Prefecture is working on developing a self-driving robot that uses cutting-edge technology to support flower-growing farmers. In fiscal 2019 the group hopes to start marketing automated, handcart-type robots that follow pickers of roses and chrysanthemums, carry the cut flowers, and deliver them to collection points. In a laboratory at Toyohashi University of Technology in Toyohashi, a roughly 1-meter-high handcart-type robot -- equipped with three cameras and two infrared radar devices -- moves back and forth, changing direction smoothly. The robot, which recognizes its location through camera footage, can self-drive on the farm grounds or inside greenhouses, follow flower pickers while keeping a certain distance, collect picked flowers, and carry them to designated collection points. Following flower pickers and transporting cut flowers became possible through the use of autonomous driving technology that involves the 3D mapping of farm grounds.