ROBOTIC TRANSPLANTING

THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP THE FUNDAMENTAL CONTROL ALGORITHMSAND PERFORM THE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING STUDIES NECESSARY TO DETERMINE THE TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF ROBOTIC TRANSPLANTING. ANIMATED CAD SIMULATIONS OF WORK-CELLS AND PLANT MATERIALS MOVEMENT ARE USED TO EVALUATE THE CAPACITY OF COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE ROBOTS. THESE COMPUTER SIMULAITONS ALSO DETERMINE THE TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY OF EACHDESIGN. THESE RESULTS WILL BE COMBINED WITH SITE-SPECIFIC DATA TO DETERMINE THE COSTS OF ROBOTIC TRANSPLANTING, AS MEASURED BY THE COST PER PLANT. A ROBOTIC TRANSPLANTER COULD HAVE APPLICATIONS IN MANY SEGMENTS OF THE PLANT PRODUCTION INDUSTRIES. IMMEDIATE APPLICATIONS WOULD BE TRANSPLANTING BEDDING PLANTS, AND FOLIAGE AND FLOWERING PLANTS. ONE OF THE FINAL STAGES OF TISSUE CULTURE PRODUCTION ALSO REQUIRES TRANSPLANTING AND A ROBOT COULD BE USEFUL THERE. SINCE THE COSTS OF TRANSPLANTING AMOUNT TO HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ANNUALLY, THE DEVELOPMENT OF A ROBOTIC TRANSPLANTER COULD MAKE THESE SEGMENTS OF AGRICULTURE MORE PROFITABLE. ROBOTICMATERIALS HANDLING, SUCH AS TRANSPLANTING, COULD BECOME THE TECHNOLOGY WHICH SAVES THE U.S. PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRYFROM MOVING ESSENTIALLY ALL PRODUCTION FACILITIES TO COU COUNTRIES WITH LOWER LABOR COSTS.