Project start: 01.03.2025
Project end: 31.12.2027
Sponsor: uratorium für Technik und Bauwesen in der Landwirtschaft e.V.

The WESPE (Water Retention: Investigate, Implement, Maintain, and Benefit) project is supporting various redesign projects and aims to also consider the maintenance work required for the redesign. The project involves redesigning previously removed drainage channels in vineyards using innovative design methods. This could result in advantages in terms of soil water relocation, water retention capacity, and improved drainage during heavy rainfall. After the redesign, opportunities to improve the diversity of the vineyard landscapes can be investigated.

Project start: 01.12.2013
Project end: 30.11.2016
Sponsor: European Union

The VineRobot, developed by a consortium of three universities and five companies from Spain, France, Italy and Germany, offers relevant information to the farmer about the status of his vineyard, allowing him to maximize resources and results. VineRobot autonomously navigates along the vineyards, gathering, in real time, data of special relevance for the grapegrower. The project is an example of application of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in the field.The VineRobot sensing technologies are capable of estimating the nitrogen content in the leaves and the anthocyanin content of the fruit directly in the vineyard. The robot yields maps from the collected data. These can be read very simply on the screen of the computer and sent to the winegrower for decision making. Agriculture demands advanced services like VineRobot. The autonomous character of the robot and its ease of use connects with a new generation of winemakers, men who trust on Intelligent Agriculture. VineRobot is a pioneering robot, the first generation of Artificial Intelligence applied to viticulture that gives objective results. The new prototype includes an artificial vision system that discriminates, with high level of detail, leaves and grapes in real time, while the robot moves within the rows of the vineyard. One of the major challenges that faces this second prototype is the measurement of anthocyanins (berry colour). For this, the sensor must ride within 30 centimetres of the cluster, which implies a high precision for an autonomous navigation system. Among the novel features of this second prototype of the VineRobot, the safety features have been upgraded as well as the power supply, by the inclusion of two new solar panels that will guarantee 120 extra watts. This will allow the computer in charge of navigation and safety to continue operating at a low level of batteries. It is estimated that the VineRobot will be fully operational - at the laboratory scale - by the end of May 2017.