Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge: And the Winner Is …
June 18, 2020 
After six months of data analysis, crop monitoring, and algorithm development, the winner of the Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge was announced on June 8 as part of GreenTech’s week-long series of webinars commemorating what would have been an in-person gathering in The Netherlands.
The winner of the challenge was Team AuTomatoes, which consists of consultants, data scientists, engineers, researchers, and students from TU Delft, Van der Hoeven Horticultural Projects, KeyGene, and Hoogendoorn Growth Management. The team scored highest in all three scoring criteria used by the judging committee, which considered everything from how the teams established climate, lighting, and crop management strategies, to the final harvest looked in terms of both production and quality.
Hoogendoorn consultant Rene Beerkens says the challenge took him back to his roots.
“I am a grower’s son, and although I have been working in greenhouse automation for 20 years, supporting growers worldwide to grow their plants in an optimal way is still my passion,” Beerkens says. “The Challenge made me realize again what a grower is dealing with day and night. It was great to translate all our latest research and knowledge into automated algorithms and to monitor the progress of our applied strategy on our crop just by numbers and images. It really enabled us to accomplish things that weren’t possible 10 years ago, all because of technology development.”
Prior to the winner being officially announced, Challenge organizers reflected on how the experience gained from the event can help the greenhouse tomato industry address long-term challenges such as food security and labor shortages.
“Our goal was to determine how growers could use technology to increase plant production, quality, and profit without entering the greenhouse,” says Silke Hemming, Head of the Scientific Research Team/Greenhouse Technology at Wageningen University, one of the organizers of the challenge. “While each artificial intelligence-based system outperformed a strictly human approach, we did realize that reliable and objective data, as well as proper interpretation of that data, is critical.”
David Wallerstein, Chief eXploration Officer at Tencent, a sponsor of the competition, says it’s important to look at how the strategies developed during the challenge can help with all crop types.
“Are there new ways to scale greenhouses, and how can we push the boundaries of what we learned?” Wallerstein asks. “These are just some of the questions we need to consider.”
The full version of the webinar is available here.
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