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

自从11,000年前在约旦河谷发现第一个已知的谷物储存实例以来，（例如棚和筒仓中的全麦/大麦/油籽）一直是农业的关键部分，对于保持谷物的质量和价值至关重要，以及弥合收获和随后使用之间的差距。在粮食储存行业中，存在未满足的需求，以减少质量和质量损失（\>20%）提高粮食储存操作的健康和安全性，因为农民和粮食储存操作员仍然被迫走在危险的粮食散装上收集粮食样品。该项目的目标是创造第一个能够安全自主地从不同点和深度的粮食散装收集物理样品的商业机器人设备，而谷物仍然闲置在存储和/或大型运输单元（例如货物）中，而现有方法不能。虽然目前的谷物取样解决方案只能接近表面，对采集样本的操作员构成安全隐患，但Crover的远程探测设备将能够在整个棚/筒仓/卡车/货物中采集样本。这将为农民、谷物储存运营商、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验证的样本，从而使他们能够减少粮食索赔/拒收，提高其操作的健康和安全性，检测潜在的腐败，并允许积极的管理，以减少损失和保持粮食质量。该项目是由Crover的散装固体运动的专有技术实现的它是基于CROVER机器人：世界上第一个“颗粒无人机”，在这个意义上说，设备能够通过散装固体和粉末移动。

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.