Participating the Digitale Woche Dotrmund 2023 (DiWoDo2023) IDiAL partnered with the Internationale Gartenausstellung Metropole Ruhr 2027 (IGA2027) to take a look at the future of horticulture.
On the booth of the IGA2027 OmniMan, the IDiAL's omni-directional mobile manipulator, worked as autonomous gardening robot. His job description included sorting flowerpots of heather. He transported the little plants between six storage positions and a counter autonomously. Unfortunately watering the plants could only be implied as the booth was lacking a faucet.
The system used ArUco markers to detect and identify the plants. This optical makers are similar to the well known qr codes. In contrast they do not only allow for identification of the flowerpots, allowing to match a plant to a digital inventory. Using the markers OmniMan can detect the exact location and orientation of each plant. This enables Omni to precisely grip the small flowerpots.
Not only could the visitors of the booth take a look on a possible way of digitization of an typical gardening task but also take a winterproof plant with them.
