Development of an intelligent LiDAR system for an autonomous greenhouse robotic application

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Advanced Intelligent Systems Inc. (AIS) is a Vancouver start-up engineering firm specialized in Robotics and machine vision technologies. The company is active in industrial automation turn key projects, robotics and machine vision hardware supply and R&D projects. The company is currently engaged in an R&D project to create an autonomous greenhouse robotic system. This system will allow handling and moving of potteries throughout the greenhouses. This allows intensive physical work for collection, spacing or rearrangement of plant pots throughout the greenhouse, to be performed by intelligent robots that perform their tasks in group or on individual basis. This technology can highly increase the production and yield, while lowering the operating costs, and labor risks in terms of safety, accuracy, reliability and availability. Advanced Intelligent Systems Inc. is seeking assistance in development of an intelligent LiDAR (term extracted from "radar" and "light") system for this autonomous greenhouse robotic system through ENGAGE program. LiDAR is a remote sensing technology that measures distance by illuminating a target with a laser and analyzing the reflected light. AIS plans to collaborate with the Dr. Golnaraghi, at the School Mechatronic Systems Engineering at SFU who has been working on various similar sensor technologies projects over the past twenty years, to look into the feasibility of a laser scanning system for use as a LiDAR system, design appropriate algorithms to identify target positions. Utilization of the system in a robotic device for pick and place operations will be next phase of the project. AIS is currently developing the robotic system for the next phase (outside the scope of the current project). In this respect, the goal of this study is to spec a proper LiDAR system, programming the system for detecting obstacles and for identifying objects for pick and place operations. The proposed activity will benefit Canada's agricultural and manufacturing industries. The proposed system is the building block for the company to develop automation products not only for greenhouses and agricultural applications, but for industrial applications (e.g. loading and unloading work pieces in machining applications).