Hello everyone! I’m Shohei.
Japan’s agricultural population is decreasing and the population is aging.
The challenge is to improve food self-sufficiency and ensure stable supply. One solution that is attracting attention is the “plant factory,” which uses cutting-edge technology to produce vegetables and other products.
Automation is essential to improving productivity and reducing costs in plant factories.
By introducing automated equipment and robots, it is possible to improve the efficiency of tasks that traditionally relied on manual labor, and to significantly transform plant factory operations.
In this article, we will explain the current status and future prospects of automation and robot introduction in plant factories in an easy-to-understand manner, even for beginners.
What exactly is a plant factory? For those who say, please refer to the following article.
What is a plant factory?
A plant factory is a facility that artificially controls light, temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, etc. to optimal conditions to produce vegetables.
The major advantages include being able to produce stably throughout the year without being affected by the weather, and reducing the amount of pesticides used.
Plant factories can be broadly divided into two types.
- Artificial light plant factory: Cultivate plants using artificial light sources such as LEDs without relying on sunlight. Since it can be installed anywhere, you can operate a plant factory even in urban areas or idle land.
- Solar plant factory: Cultivate plants in a greenhouse by making the most of sunlight. It has the advantage of lower running costs compared to artificial light types.
Why is automation necessary in plant factories?
There are three main reasons why automation is required in plant factories:
- Eliminating the worsening labor shortage: As the number of agricultural workers decreases and ages, plant factories are also facing a serious labor shortage. Automation has the effect of resolving labor shortages and reducing the burden on each employee.
- Increasing profits through improved productivity: Automated equipment and robots can operate 24 hours a day, and there are fewer human errors, making it possible to efficiently produce agricultural products of stable quality.
- Strengthen competitiveness by reducing costs: In addition to reducing labor costs, production costs can be reduced by efficiently using resources such as energy and Fertilizer.
Work that is automated at the plant factory
Currently, various tasks in the plant factory are automated.
- Environmental control: Many plant factories have already introduced systems that measure temperature, humidity, CO2 concentration, light intensity, etc. using sensors and automatically adjust them.
- Sowing/seedling raising: Robots that automatically sow seeds and transplant seedlings are also being developed and put into practical use. Precise work at uniform intervals suppresses uneven growth and contributes to quality improvement.
- Irrigation/fertilization: There is a system that automatically supplies the optimal amount of water and Fertilizer according to the growth stage of the plant. Eliminates waste of water and Fertilizer, which also leads to a reduction in environmental impact.
- Harvesting: Harvesting robots that utilize image recognition technology are beginning to be put into practical use for some items, such as tomatoes and strawberries. In addition to saving labor in harvesting work, you can also expect to improve quality by harvesting by determining the ripeness.
- Transport: Robots have also been developed to automate the transport of seedlings and harvesting materials within factories. It can relieve employees from heavy labor and improve work efficiency.
- Monitoring and diagnosis of growth status: Technology has been developed to measure the growth status of plants using sensors and cameras and diagnose the growth status based on the data. It is useful for early detection of pests and diseases and for investigating the cause of poor growth.
As the automation of production processes progresses, it will become easier to utilize data as described in the article below.
Case studies related to plant factory automation
- Photosynthesis transpiration real-time monitoring system: A system that can measure the photosynthesis rate and transpiration rate in real time for plants such as tomatoes. By understanding the growth status of plants in detail, it is possible to optimize environmental control and use water and Fertilizer efficiently.
- Chlorophyll fluorescence image measurement robot: A robot that diagnoses photosynthetic function by measuring the fluorescence emitted by chlorophyll contained in plant leaves. It can also detect early growth defects that cannot be determined visually, which is useful for improving yield and quality.
- Harvesting robots using AI: Robots have been developed that automatically harvest fruits such as tomatoes and strawberries by recognizing their color, shape, and size. In addition to saving labor in harvesting work, you can also expect to improve quality by harvesting by determining the ripeness.
In addition, we have written about the latest technologies used in the plant factory in the following articles.
Challenges and prospects for automation in plant factories
Plant factory automation is still a developing technology, and there are still some issues remaining.
- High implementation cost: Automated equipment and robots are often expensive, making the implementation cost an issue. In particular, there are many cases where it is difficult to implement in small-scale plant factories.
- Technical challenges: There are still technical challenges in automating complex tasks and developing robots that can handle various varieties and growth stages.
- Lack of operational know-how: There is currently a lack of know-how to efficiently operate automated equipment and robots.
In order to resolve these issues, research and development efforts by the government and companies are underway. The automation of plant factories is expected to accelerate further in the future as AI and robot technology advance and introduction costs decrease.
However, at present, it is still more accurate and faster to rely on humans.
In addition, growing vegetables requires the eyes and judgment of experienced people, and I think it will be a long time before completely unmanned plant factories appear.
This site provides content specialized in such “”human skills and techniques.”” If you are interested, please check below.
The future brought about by plant factory automation
Plant factory automation has the potential to significantly change the future of agriculture.
- Resolving labor shortages: Promoting the participation of young people and women in agriculture and contributing to job creation.
- Achieving stable supply: By producing agricultural products stably regardless of the weather, we will contribute to improving the food self-sufficiency rate.
- Providing high-quality agricultural products: Precise crop management based on data allows us to provide consumers with safe, secure, and high-quality agricultural products.
- Reducing environmental impact: Contributes to reducing environmental impact by making efficient use of water and Fertilizer, and reducing the amount of pesticides used.
conclusion
Automation in plant factories is an essential technology for improving productivity, reducing costs, and ensuring stable supply.
Advances in robot technology will further advance automation and have the potential to significantly change the future of agriculture.
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