Robots in the greenhouse

Gruber and his colleagues are engaged in a topic particularly pressing for farmers: They are researching traits related to drought tolerance. “We still don’t know which genes plants actively switch on when they experience drought stress,” explains the biologist. An in-depth understanding of this is, however, important to effectively support breeding of drought-tolerant varieties in the future, Gruber points out.

Digital solutions have long been in widespread use outside in the field, but now they’re increasingly moving into the protected area of the greenhouse: The flat, at first glance inconspicuous, lowpad robots are reminiscent of mobile lifting platforms. “These devices have proved themselves in online mail-order companies’ logistics centers, and they also work for us here,” Gruber explains. The robots he selected for the test project offer more flexibility than, for example, conveyor belts. This makes them ideal for moving the plant tables, which weigh more than 50 kilograms each, to the various stations in the greenhouse.

The corn and sugarbeet plants are weighed regularly to determine their water consumption over the course of an entire day. The information about transpiration is then combined with other data. A sensor system on the ceiling measures the existing differences in temperature and humidity. “Parameters like these are crucial for the leaf stomata and thus for the plant’s water consumption,” Gruber explains. “With our approach, we hope to better understand how plants react to certain conditions and why, for example, the leaf stomata open at varying rates.”

To clarify this and other issues, such as yield production and yield physiology, KWS researchers carefully examine the plants’ visual traits. The scientists observe, among other things, how the plants’ shape, size and weight change as they develop. So they can do this, the robots transport the plant tables to another station: the PhenoFactory.”