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Scientists and industry develop autonomous feeding robots

Scientists and industry have developed the world’s first autonomous robot to be fixed directly onto the present feeding machines in mink farms.

[Translate to English:] Mink er natdyr, og med den nye robot kan minkfarmeren vente med at sætte fodringen i gang til om natten. Foto: Minkpapir

Aarhus University has a long tradition for cooperating with the industry – particularly within the food and agricultural sectors. An example of this is the development of the mink feeding robot FIX-Robo.

On behalf of the private company Minkpapir A/S the company Conpleks Innovation approached Aarhus University and the University of Southern Denmark in order to receive the necessary help and knowledge to develop the world’s first autonomous robot to be fixed directly onto the present feeding machines. The robot navigates around the mink farm and places the mink feed on top of the individual cages, thus taking over a major part of the monotonous task of feeding that is usually carried out by mink farmers or their employees.

Conpleks Innovation primarily works with the development of mobile robots. Several PhD students and Postdocs from the Department of Engineering have been affiliated to the company.

The researchers have helped develop the navigation, steering and localization parts. Mink farms are not identical, and this means that the robot must be adjusted to local conditions. In addition, it has been a major challenge to make the robot compensate for all the movements of existing feeding machines.

- When steering a feeding machine the driver is able to compensate for e.g. backlash – but in case of a fully automatic robot this requires a lot of adjustment. From an engineer’s point of view this has been an interesting experience, says Research Assistant Morten Stigaard Laursen, Department of Engineering, Aarhus University.

Managing director at Conpleks Innovation, Tom Simonsen, is very satisfied with the collaboration with the scientists:

- When establishing our company five years ago we recognized that if we wanted to be a serious actor in the market, we would have to be close to the scientists and a university environment. The researchers have the most recent knowledge, and we are very strong within development. When we collaborate we can convert research to actual products to the benefit of the industry, says Tom Simonsen.

Conpleks Innovation and Minkpapir A/S hope to be able to put the mink feeding robot into production in the very near future.


Further information

Postdoc Morten Stigaard Laursen
Department of Engineering, AU
Mail: msl@eng.au.dk