– We have a circle “Robotics”, – introduces the head teacher of the local Children’s Art House Mikhail Kolotilov. – Children from the age of six are engaged. They start with an ordinary children’s designer, gradually moving to electronic-digital systems.
Thanks to the national project “Education”, new opportunities appeared: schools began to receive modern equipment, “Growth Point” centers were opened.
– We decided to implement something extraordinary within the framework of cooperation with the House of Children’s Creativity, – says Elena Salnikova, director of the Center for Growth Point at School No. 1. – The idea was born not immediately, but, with the time, has matured.
The “Robotics” group is headed by Georgy Burikhin. Gardening is one of his many interests. He planted several apple orchards in these places.
– What if we create an automatic harvester to collect fruits? – proposed Georgy Nikolaevich. – It can greatly facilitate the collection work.
So we decided.
– The principle of operation of the device lies at the intersection of several sciences: biology, physics, computer science, – says Georgy Burikhin. – The harvester must combine mechanical, electronic and software components into a single whole. It takes time to create the first sample, our idea is still in the implementation stage.
The robot will be a drone with a manipulator to fly around the trees and collect fruits. You will be taught to distinguish ripe apples from green ones with the help of a video eye. One person will control the miraculous technology with a joystick.
The idea was born even before the ban on the use of UAVs. But now, at the top, there is talk of a possible permit for the use of drones in agriculture. In this case, the flying collector will find work.
“The main task is to ensure automatic work according to a certain program,” a member of the design team, a tenth-grader Dmitry Shagin, joins the conversation. – The robot must independently carry out the task of picking apples, even placing them in a container.
To date, Vetluzh designers have built a manipulator and a joystick. Eleventh grader Alexander Lituev shows the device in action. The hand of the future robot slowly takes a journalistic pen from the desk.
Yes, today there are combines for industrial gardening. But they cannot do without a person. Harvesting is carried out manually, the equipment is connected at the sorting stage, packing into containers. Experts say that there were attempts to create automatic devices, but they had drawbacks. The robots, for example, left part of the harvest on the branches. So the task of the guys from Vetluga is not really easy.
Be that as it may, young designers are determined. They presented the business case for the project. According to his calculations, the robots can reduce the cost of fruit picking by two to three times. The Vetluzhans aim to bring the project to a startup.
