AGV to help alleviate horticulture's labour shortage

The AGV, created in conjunction with UK horticultural companies Crystal Heart Salad, Valefesco and WD Smith & Son, is being developed to work in greenhouse and outdoor areas moving trays and boxes.

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Its development has been spurred by a drop off in available labour and the rising cost of the horticultural workforce.

According to Professor Robert Harrison from WMG, University of Warwick, the team reviewed existing AGVs to ensure there wasn’t an available product that could meet growers’ needs. They also ran a full analysis on the potential prototype to ensure the investment could be repaid through offsetting future labour costs. The overall goal is for the prototype to be developed commercially to cost around £30,000 to £50,000 depending on its configuration.

In use, AGVs navigate by following marked lines or wires on the floor, or use radio waves, vision cameras, magnets, or lasers.

“We are at a proof-of-concept stage evaluating a number of different options for guidance systems, and indeed for the mechanical design progression,” said Prof Harrison. “We do propose to use different guidance solutions in different situations, SLAM, GPS plus an indoor location system being the likely options.”