Issues of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Flower Cultivation?

In flower and potted plant cultivation, specialized planting tables are used, where the plants grow in the greenhouse. These tables can be up to 30 meters long and two meters wide. In a medium-sized business with a greenhouse, there are often hundreds of them.

However, small companies and medium-sized enterprises face strong competitive pressure. Large, highly industrialized breeding companies rely on fully mobile planting tables, which can be driven into automatic washing lines, for example. Classic breeding companies, on the other hand, often do not have space for such large systems and continue to use conventional planting tables (see photo). These can only be easily moved from left to right on wheels.

An often underestimated problem in this context: the regular cleaning of the planting tables! When working with plants, soil, and fertilizers, residues inevitably remain on the tables. Or, as the breeder might put it: "Where planting happens, there also lies soil.".

In a business with 200 of these 30 x 2 meter large tables, this means: each individual table must be cleaned manually on a regular basis – up to four times a year! The cleaning process is anything but easy for the staff. To thoroughly clean the middle of the table, residues are swept up with a hand broom. This not only means backbreaking work for employees but also consumes an enormous amount of time: a single table can require up to two hours of cleaning.

Prototype Development of a Cleaning Robot for Planting Tables

To make the cleaning of the planting tables easier in the long term, CarByte has worked together with the Germersheim-based nursery Blumen Xpert on a solution and designed the first prototype of a customized cleaning robot. How did the development proceed?

Tailored Requirements

The robot moves directly on the planting tables and must be able to collect up to 30 liters of soil, plant, and fertilizer residues per table. It is particularly important that it neither distorts nor damages the valuable Aquatex film covering the table. For large tables, a brush system of a sweeper that is as wide as possible is recommended – but without becoming too heavy.

Ideally, the robot can be navigated both autonomously and via remote control to effectively clean even in difficult terrain, such as through irrigation hoses.

Technical Details

The "brain" of the robot must be programmed to allow brushes and wheels to be controlled remotely. A simple LiDAR sensor (Light Detection and Ranging) is used for the automatic detection of the table edge. The robot thus stops autonomously at the edge of the table.

An ESP32 microcontroller is used for control, combined with the open-source real-time operating system FreeRTOS. Future extensions could integrate modern technologies from the automotive industry or the Internet of Things (IoT). Data evaluation through a web app would also be conceivable.

On-Site Tests

To also convince the critical eye of an expert with decades of experience in plant cultivation, practical tests on-site are essential. Only in this way can it be ensured that the prototype meets all requirements properly and is optimally tailored to the needs of the horticultural specialist business.

Our goal is to reduce the cleaning time per table from up to two hours to just five minutes. Furthermore, the solution offers additional advantages, especially for the staff: no burden from inhaling fertilizer residues and a noticeable relief for shoulders and joints, which would otherwise be strained by manual sweeping.

Prototype Workshop: From Idea to Prototype

With a technically clever solution, for example, agricultural businesses can more easily compete with highly industrialized large-scale breeding facilities – at least significantly more effectively than before. We are pleased to make a contribution to strengthen local businesses.

In our prototype workshop, we will work in the future to develop ideas into tangible solutions. Every business is an expert in its field – our role is to implement the concepts arising there into reality. Our passion lies in technology, and the possibilities are diverse. Whether smart solutions, small series, or first prototypes – we bring innovations to life.

With modern real-time operating systems like FreeRTOS, Zephyr, and ThreadX or professional robotics frameworks like ROS2, which enable powerful IoT applications and drive the urgently needed automation for numerous businesses.