'Swimming' robot 'enabling humanity to reach below surface' advances
Summary
The Scotland 5G Centre (S5GC) and CeeD (the Centre for Engineering, Education and Development) supported Crover with its bid for the funding from Innovate UK.The next stage of testing by Crover is being conducted in S5GCs Forth Valley innovation hub.S5GC said: By swimming through grain, the Crover robot provides in-situ stirring of the grain, which helps maintain its quality, as well as improving the health and safety of grain storage operations.It added that the new funding will support Crover in making its system smarter by enhancing its autonomous operating capabilities, using artificial intelligence solutions, and improving the efficiency of data transmission, including through 5G protocols, to provide even more insight to grain handlers.Without the Crover robot, post-harvest losses during storage can be anywhere between 2% and 10% each year, S5GC noted.S5GC said of Crovers offering: It will also help grain-storage operators reduce losses and maintain optimum storage conditions, creating a platform that can be integrated into existing monitoring systems that will improve the efficacy substantially, or substitute them completely.Lorenzo Conti, founder and managing director of Crover, said: We are delighted about the support, helping us take our mission of enabling humanity to reach below the surface further, and we look forward to the new collaboration with The Scotland 5G Centre and CeeD.Automation will no doubt benefit grain-storage operators hugely. However, without a mechanism to report learnings and captured by the Crover robot, all this effort is wasted. Being able to test the system in an environment like the S5GC has within its innovation hubs is invaluable and will be of huge benefit to myself and the team.Tom Marchbanks, business engagement manager for S5GC at Forth Valley, said: It has been great to support Lorenzo and his team with their successful bid for Innovate UK funding. It is our mission to support innovative SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) that are passionate about future-proofing their operations to bring their ideas to life. A connected world relies on innovation, collaboration and open-mindedness so its fantastic to see Scottish businesses like Crover paving the way.Joe Pacitti, managing director of CeeD, said: CeeD is really pleased to be able to help many of our members around a range of support activities and connections.