A vertically-oriented module for growing plants is disclosed where the module comprises: a base comprising a housing for one or more auxiliary systems that support the module; a silo positioned on top of the base, the silo comprising a central core; an outer frame surrounding the central core, the outer frame defining a plurality of columns arranged radially around the central core, wherein each column is configured to receive one or more removable panels of plants; and a plurality of lighting units coupled to and arranged radially around the central core such that each lighting unit projects light away from the central core towards a corresponding column in the outer frame
A01G 9/02 - Récipients, p. ex. pots ou jardinières Verres pour la culture des fleurs
A01G 9/24 - Dispositifs de chauffage, d'aération, de régulation de la température ou d'irrigation dans les serres, les châssis ou les installations similaires
A01G 27/00 - Dispositifs automatiques d'arrosage, p. ex. pour pots de fleurs
Robotic agricultural machinery in the nature of industrial robots and robotic arms for industrial purposes, namely, for use in greenhouses; automated and mechanical seeders, automated and mechanical transplanters, automated and mechanical harvesters, automated and mechanical packagers; automated farming machines, namely, autonomous machines for harvesting seedlings; automated retrieval machines for retrieving trays of plants; agricultural machines, namely, harvesters, transplanters, and seeders for indoor controlled environmental agricultural farming; agricultural machinery for optimizing plant growth through comparing, testing and optimizing environmental factors including temperature, light, humidity, water, fertilizers
Robotic agricultural machinery, namely, hydroponic growing systems comprised of light emitting diode (LED) plant grow lights, grow cabinets in the nature of closed environments with integrated water delivery chambers, and automated controls therefor; Hydroponic growing systems comprised of light emitting diode (LED) plant grow lights, grow cabinets in the nature of closed environments with integrated misting chambers, and automated controls therefor; Hydroponics grow box in the nature of a closed environment equipped with lights, exhaust system, hydroponics growing container and odor control system; robotic agricultural machinery, namely, aeroponic grow cabinet in the nature of a closed environment with lights, exhaust system, aeroponic misting chamber and automated control system; automated agricultural growing systems comprised of grow beds, plant grow lights, grow racks in a closed environments with integrated misting chambers, exhaust system, manipulated grow trays, and automated controls therefor; growing system for plants comprised of racks for growing plants that feature automatic controls for moving and watering the plants with automated sensors for detecting growth conditions; automated devices for growing plants, namely, seeding, watering, drying, harvesting machines for agricultural purposes
40 - Traitement de matériaux; recyclage, purification de l'air et traitement de l'eau
Produits et services
custom manufacture of commercial hydroponics grow equipment and supplies; custom manufacture and fabrication of agricultural equipment for plant growth optimization
42 - Services scientifiques, technologiques et industriels, recherche et conception
Produits et services
Custom design and engineering of commercial hydroponics grow equipment and supplies; design and development of customized agricultural and production systems for organic and hydroponic farming and agriculture
7.
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATING TRANSFER OF PLANTS WITHIN AN AGRICULTURAL FACILITY
One variation of a method for automating transfer of plants within an agricultural facility includes: dispatching a loader to autonomously deliver a first module—defining a first array of plant slots at a first density and loaded with a first set of plants at a first growth stage—from a first grow location within an agricultural facility to a transfer station within the agricultural facility; dispatching the loader to autonomously deliver a second module—defining a second array of plant slots at a second density less than the first density and empty of plants—to the transfer station; recording a module-level optical scan of the first module; extracting a viability parameter of the first set of plants from features detected in the module-level optical scan; and if the viability parameter falls outside of a target viability range, rejecting transfer of the first set of plants from the first module.
One variation of a method for monitoring growth of plants within a facility includes: aggregating global ambient data recorded by a suite of fixed sensors, arranged proximal a grow area within the facility, at a first frequency during a grow period; extracting intermediate outcomes of a set of plants, occupying a module in the grow area, from module-level images recorded by a mover at a second frequency less than the first frequency while interfacing with the module during the period of time; dispatching the mover to autonomously deliver the module to a transfer station; extracting intermediate outcomes of the set of plants from plant-level images recorded by the transfer station while sequentially transferring plants out of the module at the conclusion of the grow period; and deriving relationships between ambient conditions, intermediate outcomes, and final outcomes from a corpus of plant records associated with plants grown in the facility.
G05B 19/416 - Commande numérique [CN], c.-à-d. machines fonctionnant automatiquement, en particulier machines-outils, p. ex. dans un milieu de fabrication industriel, afin d'effectuer un positionnement, un mouvement ou des actions coordonnées au moyen de données d'un programme sous forme numérique caractérisée par la commande de vitesse, d'accélération ou de décélération
One variation of a method for deploying sensors within an agricultural facility includes: accessing scan data of a set of modules deployed within the agricultural facility; extracting characteristics of plants occupying the set of modules from the scan data; selecting a first subset of target modules from the set of modules, each target module in the set of target modules containing a group of plants exhibiting characteristics representative of plants occupying modules neighboring the target module; for each target module, scheduling a robotic manipulator within the agricultural facility to remove a particular plant from a particular plant slot in the target module and load the particular plant slot with a sensor pod from a population of sensor pods deployed in the agricultural facility; and monitoring environmental conditions at target modules in the first subset of target modules based on sensor data recorded by the first population of sensor pods.
One variation of a method for automating transfer of plants within an agricultural facility includes: dispatching a loader to autonomously deliver a first module—defining a first array of plant slots at a first density and loaded with a first set of plants at a first growth stage—from a first grow location within an agricultural facility to a transfer station within the agricultural facility; dispatching the loader to autonomously deliver a second module—defining a second array of plant slots at a second density less than the first density and empty of plants—to the transfer station; recording a module-level optical scan of the first module; extracting a viability parameter of the first set of plants from features detected in the module-level optical scan; and if the viability parameter falls outside of a target viability range, rejecting transfer of the first set of plants from the first module.
One variation of a method for monitoring growth of plants within a facility includes: aggregating global ambient data recorded by a suite of fixed sensors, arranged proximal a grow area within the facility, at a first frequency during a grow period; extracting interim outcomes of a set of plants, occupying a module in the grow area, from module-level images recorded by a mover at a second frequency less than the first frequency while interfacing with the module during the period of time; dispatching the mover to autonomously deliver the module to a transfer station; extracting interim outcomes of the set of plants from plant-level images recorded by the transfer station while sequentially transferring plants out of the module at the conclusion of the grow period; and deriving relationships between ambient conditions, interim outcomes, and final outcomes from a corpus of plant records associated with plants grown in the facility.
G05B 19/416 - Commande numérique [CN], c.-à-d. machines fonctionnant automatiquement, en particulier machines-outils, p. ex. dans un milieu de fabrication industriel, afin d'effectuer un positionnement, un mouvement ou des actions coordonnées au moyen de données d'un programme sous forme numérique caractérisée par la commande de vitesse, d'accélération ou de décélération
One variation of a method for automatically redistributing plants throughout an agricultural facility includes, at a mobile robotic system: delivering a first module—defining a first array of plant slots at a first density and loaded with a first set of plants in approximately a second growth stage—from a grow area within a facility to a transfer station within the facility; delivering a second module—located within the facility and defining a second array of plant slots at a second density less than the first density—to the transfer station; and following transfer of a first subset of plants from the first array of plant slots in the first module into the second array of plant slots in the second module at the transfer station, delivering the second module to the grow area in the facility.
B65H 29/12 - Délivrance ou progression des articles à la sortie des machinesProgression des articles vers ou dans les piles au moyen du resserrement entre deux rubans ou courroies mobiles, ou entre deux jeux de rubans ou courroies
B25J 5/02 - Manipulateurs montés sur roues ou sur support mobile se déplaçant le long d'un chemin de guidage
13.
System and method for automating transfer of plants within an agricultural facility
One variation of a method for automating transfer of plants within an agricultural facility includes: dispatching a loader to autonomously deliver a first module—defining a first array of plant slots at a first density and loaded with a first set of plants at a first growth stage—from a first grow location within an agricultural facility to a transfer station within the agricultural facility; dispatching the loader to autonomously deliver a second module—defining a second array of plant slots at a second density less than the first density and empty of plants—to the transfer station; recording a module-level optical scan of the first module; extracting a viability parameter of the first set of plants from features detected in the module-level optical scan; and if the viability parameter falls outside of a target viability range, rejecting transfer of the first set of plants from the first module.
G05D 1/02 - Commande de la position ou du cap par référence à un système à deux dimensions
A01B 69/04 - Adaptations particulières de la conduite automatique du tracteur, p. ex. systèmes électriques pour labourage selon les courbes de niveau
G06K 9/58 - Prétraitement de l'image, c. à d. traitement de l'information image sans se préoccuper de l'identité de l'image en utilisant des moyens optiques
14.
Method for selectively deploying sensors within an agricultural facility
One variation of a method for deploying sensors within an agricultural facility includes: accessing scan data of a set of modules deployed within the agricultural facility; extracting characteristics of plants occupying the set of modules from the scan data; selecting a first subset of target modules from the set of modules, each target module in the set of target modules containing a group of plants exhibiting characteristics representative of plants occupying modules neighboring the target module; for each target module, scheduling a robotic manipulator within the agricultural facility to remove a particular plant from a particular plant slot in the target module and load the particular plant slot with a sensor pod from a population of sensor pods deployed in the agricultural facility; and monitoring environmental conditions at target modules in the first subset of target modules based on sensor data recorded by the first population of sensor pods.
G06K 9/00 - Méthodes ou dispositions pour la lecture ou la reconnaissance de caractères imprimés ou écrits ou pour la reconnaissance de formes, p.ex. d'empreintes digitales
G06F 9/38 - Exécution simultanée d'instructions, p. ex. pipeline ou lecture en mémoire
One variation of a method for automating transfer of plants within an agricultural facility includes: dispatching a loader to autonomously deliver a first module—defining a first array of plant slots at a first density and loaded with a first set of plants at a first growth stage—from a first grow location within an agricultural facility to a transfer station within the agricultural facility; dispatching the loader to autonomously deliver a second module—defining a second array of plant slots at a second density less than the first density and empty of plants—to the transfer station; recording a module-level optical scan of the first module; extracting a viability parameter of the first set of plants from features detected in the module-level optical scan; and if the viability parameter falls outside of a target viability range, rejecting transfer of the first set of plants from the first module.
A01G 9/02 - Récipients, p. ex. pots ou jardinières Verres pour la culture des fleurs
G05D 1/02 - Commande de la position ou du cap par référence à un système à deux dimensions
G06K 9/58 - Prétraitement de l'image, c. à d. traitement de l'information image sans se préoccuper de l'identité de l'image en utilisant des moyens optiques
A01B 69/04 - Adaptations particulières de la conduite automatique du tracteur, p. ex. systèmes électriques pour labourage selon les courbes de niveau
16.
Method for automating transfer of plants within an agricultural facility
One variation of a method for automating transfer of plants within an agricultural facility includes: dispatching a loader to autonomously deliver a first module—defining a first array of plant slots at a first density and loaded with a first set of plants at a first growth stage—from a first grow location within an agricultural facility to a transfer station within the agricultural facility; dispatching the loader to autonomously deliver a second module—defining a second array of plant slots at a second density less than the first density and empty of plants—to the transfer station; recording a module-level optical scan of the first module; extracting a viability parameter of the first set of plants from features detected in the module-level optical scan; and if the viability parameter falls outside of a target viability range, rejecting transfer of the first set of plants from the first module.
G06F 7/00 - Procédés ou dispositions pour le traitement de données en agissant sur l'ordre ou le contenu des données maniées
G06F 19/00 - Équipement ou méthodes de traitement de données ou de calcul numérique, spécialement adaptés à des applications spécifiques (spécialement adaptés à des fonctions spécifiques G06F 17/00;systèmes ou méthodes de traitement de données spécialement adaptés à des fins administratives, commerciales, financières, de gestion, de surveillance ou de prévision G06Q;informatique médicale G16H)
A01G 9/02 - Récipients, p. ex. pots ou jardinières Verres pour la culture des fleurs
G05D 1/02 - Commande de la position ou du cap par référence à un système à deux dimensions
G06K 9/58 - Prétraitement de l'image, c. à d. traitement de l'information image sans se préoccuper de l'identité de l'image en utilisant des moyens optiques
A01B 69/04 - Adaptations particulières de la conduite automatique du tracteur, p. ex. systèmes électriques pour labourage selon les courbes de niveau
17.
Method for automatically redistributing plants throughout an agricultural facility
One variation of a method for automatically redistributing plants throughout an agricultural facility includes, at a mobile robotic system: delivering a first module—defining a first array of plant slots at a first density and loaded with a first set of plants in approximately a second growth stage—from a grow area within a facility to a transfer station within the facility; delivering a second module—located within the facility and defining a second array of plant slots at a second density less than the first density—to the transfer station; and following transfer of a first subset of plants from the first array of plant slots in the first module into the second array of plant slots in the second module at the transfer station, delivering the second module to the grow area in the facility.
B65H 29/12 - Délivrance ou progression des articles à la sortie des machinesProgression des articles vers ou dans les piles au moyen du resserrement entre deux rubans ou courroies mobiles, ou entre deux jeux de rubans ou courroies
B25J 5/02 - Manipulateurs montés sur roues ou sur support mobile se déplaçant le long d'un chemin de guidage
18.
Method for automating transfer of plants within an agricultural facility
One variation of a method for automating transfer of plants within an agricultural facility includes: dispatching a loader to autonomously deliver a first module—defining a first array of plant slots at a first density and loaded with a first set of plants at a first growth stage—from a first grow location within an agricultural facility to a transfer station within the agricultural facility; dispatching the loader to autonomously deliver a second module—defining a second array of plant slots at a second density less than the first density and empty of plants—to the transfer station; recording a module-level optical scan of the first module; extracting a viability parameter of the first set of plants from features detected in the module-level optical scan; and if the viability parameter falls outside of a target viability range, rejecting transfer of the first set of plants from the first module.
G06F 7/00 - Procédés ou dispositions pour le traitement de données en agissant sur l'ordre ou le contenu des données maniées
G06F 19/00 - Équipement ou méthodes de traitement de données ou de calcul numérique, spécialement adaptés à des applications spécifiques (spécialement adaptés à des fonctions spécifiques G06F 17/00;systèmes ou méthodes de traitement de données spécialement adaptés à des fins administratives, commerciales, financières, de gestion, de surveillance ou de prévision G06Q;informatique médicale G16H)
G06K 9/58 - Prétraitement de l'image, c. à d. traitement de l'information image sans se préoccuper de l'identité de l'image en utilisant des moyens optiques
19.
Method for monitoring growth of plants and generating a plant grow schedule
One variation of method for monitoring growth of plants within a facility includes: aggregating global ambient data recorded by a suite of fixed sensors, arranged proximal a grow area within the facility, at a first frequency during a grow period; extracting interim outcomes of a set of plants, occupying a module in the grow area, from module-level images recorded by a mover at a second frequency less than the first frequency while interfacing with the module during the period of time; dispatching the mover to autonomously deliver the module to a transfer station; extracting interim outcomes of the set of plants from plant-level images recorded by the transfer station while sequentially transferring plants out of the module at the conclusion of the grow period; and deriving relationships between ambient conditions, interim outcomes, and final outcomes from a corpus of plant records associated with plants grown in the facility.
G05B 19/416 - Commande numérique [CN], c.-à-d. machines fonctionnant automatiquement, en particulier machines-outils, p. ex. dans un milieu de fabrication industriel, afin d'effectuer un positionnement, un mouvement ou des actions coordonnées au moyen de données d'un programme sous forme numérique caractérisée par la commande de vitesse, d'accélération ou de décélération
