The Czech company Fravebot is preparing for its third appearance at GreenTech Amsterdam this June. In the past two years, the company showcased an autonomous robotic platform in Amsterdam.
This year, the engineering company — rooted in the automotive industry — is aiming to introduce the market to its other technological innovations. The trade fair is an important opportunity for this, but real-world trials are also crucial, says grower and co-founder Matěj Sklenář. His farm has already gained extensive experience with both the autonomous robotic platform and the company's latest innovation: a sticky trap scanner.
© Arlette Sijmonsma | HortiDaily.comTeam Fravebot at GreenTech Amsterdam 2024
Testing with growers from the start
Matěj co-founded Fravebot with Vratislav Beneš, who is the company's CEO. Vratislav previously worked on quality assessment machinery in the automotive industry, but saw opportunities in agriculture and horticulture. That's why he partnered with Matěj, who manages 50 hectares of outdoor lettuce cultivation and 2 hectares of foil greenhouses for tomatoes and strawberries.
Since Matěj has been involved in Fravebot from the beginning, his farm has served as an ideal testing ground — especially since his greenhouses are equipped with Dutch technology. This has helped ensure that the trial results from the Czech Republic, as well as from their first commercial user in Slovakia, align well with the Dutch market. The Fravebot team considers the Netherlands a global leader in greenhouse technology, something Matěj saw firsthand while studying at Wageningen University & Research (WUR).
Fravebot develops both hardware and software in-house at its headquarters in Brno, a key hub of Czech universities and start-ups. The company is now scaling up. "We're past the startup phase," says Matěj. "We now have a team of 20 people, and we're expanding — especially in customer service and sales."
© FravebotFravebot is doing a test at Proefstation voor de Groenteteelt. Els Berckmoes of the research center receives the scout robot from Vratislav Beneš of Fravebot. Martin Juříček (right) was there to help put the robot into use.
Robot and trap scanner
To expand beyond the Czech market, the company has partnered with Pierre Grootscholten of Grootscholten Consultancy. This year, Fravebot's scout robot has started testing at Proefstation voor de Groenteteelt, a research center in Flanders, for high-wire cultivation of tomatoes and cucumbers. "The goal is to compare what the robot sees versus what human observers see," explains Pierre. "The robot takes a photo of every fruit," Matěj adds. "We use self-learning image recognition software." The scout robot provides data for both pest detection and harvest forecasting.
Another, lesser-known product from Fravebot is FraveEye, a sticky trap scanner that is already in use in the Czech Republic. With Pierre's help, the company is also introducing it to the Dutch market. While Fravebot is currently focused on greenhouse vegetables, the FraveEye is being tested in ornamental cultivation as well. "For example, it has been installed in gerbera production," says Pierre.
© Fravebot FraveEye in high wire cultivation of bell peppers
Harvest forecasting
Fravebot is also looking for commercial growers to test the robot. A key strength of the autonomous robotic platform is its navigation system, a feature expected from a company with an automotive background. The robot is equipped with LIDAR sensors (Laser Imaging And Ranging), which function as highly sensitive distance meters, enabling autonomous driving. "For example, if a tomato picker is standing in a row tens of meters away, the robot detects it, skips that row, and moves to another area to collect data," explains Matěj.
The Fravebot Scout focuses on data collection. Initially, the company aimed to develop robotic harvesting, and while that remains a goal, they first decided to focus on harvest forecasting. "There is a huge demand for this in the Dutch greenhouse vegetable market because of the large-scale greenhouses," Matěj notes. The Fravebot Scout provides growers with accurate harvest predictions up to two weeks in advance.
In other markets, pest detection is a major focus. Thanks to its expertise in training algorithms, Fravebot can now quickly adapt to new crops. "We started with software development," recalls Matěj. "It feels like ages ago, but it was just a few years back." Initially, it took them from 0% to 100% knowledge in tomatoes. Now, adding new crops requires only a fifth of the time. And as for the hardware? That's already in place. Fravebot is ready to enter the market commercially.
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