By Andi Anderson
An Otsego County farm is making history by partnering with Michigan Technological University engineering students to develop an innovative lavender-harvesting robot. The collaboration with Lucky Clover Farm aims to combine the passions of farming and robotics.
Josh Mouch, who runs Lucky Clover Farm with his family, discovered a grant for robotic agriculture research, which sparked the project. "We want to collect the data, that's the first step that we need to do," Mouch explained.
Dr. Jung Yun Bae, an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering, and her students traveled five hours to the farm to simulate the fields in a virtual space. Their goal is to build a robot capable of delicately harvesting lavender.
"We want to mimic the human-like harvesting, as delicate as possible," said Dr. Bae. "That will be the hardest part since we're not really experts on the harvesting part."
The research aims to automate the harvesting process not just for lavender, but for other delicate plants like strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and peppers. "Any research that's done here will also apply to any other I call them delicate plants," said Mouch.
The challenge for small farms is the high cost of labor and expensive equipment, making the development of an affordable harvesting robot crucial.
"Providing these very, very affordable small robots is going to help so many small farms in Michigan and the majority of the farms in Michigan are small farms," Mouch emphasized. The goal is to create a robot that can replace labor without being prohibitively expensive.
UpNorthLive will continue to follow the students' research on the farm. They hope to launch the robot in the fields next year to test its effectiveness.
"As a roboticist, I want to be helpful to society so small farm owners can have some option to have profitable, automated systems and get out of the labor shortage," said Dr. Bae.
This innovative project demonstrates the potential for technology to transform agricultural practices, particularly for small farms struggling with labor and cost challenges.
Photo Credit: gettyimages-shotbydave
Categories: Michigan, Harvesting