Our partner, Alsymex, recently attended GreenTech Amsterdam (June 10-12), a leading international horticulture technology event. This important forum offered opportunities to meet with hydroponics lettuce growers and their suppliers, directly aligning with ARISE’s mission to develop a robotic platform for the crucial Energy and Agriculture sectors, thereby contributing to the European Green Deal.

GreenTech Amsterdam showcased strong representation of Robotics & AI innovation, with demos and dedicated workshops. Insights gathered from meetings and exchanges reveal that automated solutions are being developed to handle lettuce plants from the nursery, aiming to position seedlings on floats and manage floats in and out of deep water technology pools. The Dutch company Light4Food demonstrates significant progress in these specific areas, highlighting the industry’s drive towards greater automation.

Despite these advancements, the dexterous manipulation of lettuce during transplanting and harvesting, which necessitates direct contact with the delicate vegetable, remains a substantial challenge. Addressing this, TU Delft, through its RoboHouse initiative, is conducting promising early-stage research and development. Their work centers on a novel “membrane” gripper engineered to “sense” pressure and friction on soft, flexible produce. This innovative approach aims to ensure an adequate, damage-free grasp, marking a critical step towards fully automating the more delicate aspects of horticultural production.

The information and insights gained by Alsymex at GreenTech Amsterdam will be instrumental for the ARISE project. These findings will directly inform its ongoing research and development efforts in sustainable and automated agricultural practices, particularly concerning hydroponic lettuce harvesting, and support the broader realisation of ARISE’s mission across both the energy and agriculture sectors.