Advancing the boundaries of grain sampling: A robot for the autonomous, safe and representative sampling of grain bulks

自从11,000年前约旦河流域第一批已知的谷物储藏实例出现以来，储藏谷物(例如，在棚子和筒仓中储存全麦/大麦/油籽)的过程一直是农业产业的关键部分，对于保持谷物的质量和价值以及弥合收成和后续使用之间的差距至关重要。该项目的目标是创造第一个商用机器人装置，能够安全、自主地从不同地点和不同深度的粮堆中采集实物样品，同时谷物仍闲置在储藏和/或大型运输单元(如货物)中，而现有方法无法做到这一点。虽然目前只能接近地表的谷物采样解决方案对采集样品的操作员构成了安全危险，但Crover的远程探测设备将能够在整个棚子/筒仓/卡车/货物中采集样本。这将为农民、粮食储存操作员、贸易商和运输公司提供一种工具，在谷物散装的不同点获得高度代表性和经验证的样品，从而使他们能够减少粮食索赔/拒收，改善其作业的健康和安全，检测潜在的变质，该项目是由Crover用于移动散装固体(例如沙子、颗粒、粉末)的专有技术实现的，它基于Crover机器人：世界上第一个能够在散装固体和粉末中移动的“颗粒状无人机”。

Since the first known examples of grain storage dating back to ~11,000 years ago in the Jordan valley, the process of storing grain (e.g. whole wheat/barley/oilseeds in sheds and silos) has been a critical part of the agriculture industry, essential to preserving the grain's quality and value, as well as to bridge the gap between harvest and its subsequent use.There is an unmet need in the grain storage industry to reduce mass and quality losses (\\\>20%) and improve the health and safety of grain storage operations, as farmers and grain storage operators are still forced to walk on dangerous grain bulks to collect grain samples.The objective of this project is to create the first commercial robotic device able to safely and autonomously collect physical samples from grain bulks at various points and depths, while the grain is still idle in storage and/or large transportation units (e.g. cargoes), where existing methods cannot. While current grain sampling solutions that can only reach near the surface pose a safety hazard to operators collecting the samples, Crover's remote probing device will be able to collect samples throughout the whole shed/silo/truck/cargo.This will provide farmers, grain storage operators, traders and transportation companies with a tool to obtain highly representative and verified samples at different points within grain bulks, hence enabling them to reduce grain claims/rejection, improve the health and safety of their operations, detect potential spoilage, and allowing proactive management to reduce losses and maintain grain quality.The project is made possible by Crover's proprietary technology for locomotion in bulk solids (e.g. sand, grains, powders) and it is based around the CROVER robot: the world's first 'granular drone', in the sense of a device able to move through bulk solids and powders.