Opportunity for

• partners from academia, with innovative solutions to enable automated plant tissue sampling in the greenhouse environment.

Opportunity description

Industry challenge

Bayer Crop Science seeks partners from academia, with innovative solutions to enable automated plant tissue sampling in the greenhouse environment. Specifically seeking programable and autonomous robotic technology that can navigate a greenhouse, identify plant to be sampled, identify tissue to be sampled, take sample, and deliver into container for downstream processing. Ideal partners would come from academic or corporate settings, but not necessary having expertise in agriculture.

Current opportunity

Bayer Crop Science are seeking engagement from academia and solution providers to automate plant tissue sampling in the greenhouse environment. Partnership models include co-development, material transfer, supply/purchase and sponsored research.

We are looking for:

• Ready-to-deploy technology with existing end-to-end proof of concept with plants in a greenhouse.
• Autonomous robotic tech that can navigate indoor environments for other purposes that could be developed to this aim.
• Outside the box solutions that achieve the same end result but that do not rely on autonomous robot.
• Experts in greenhouse automation design and engineering.

Our must-have requirements are:

• Can be adapted to work in various greenhouse/glasshouse settings.
• Can sample tissue from different plant species of different sizes and morphology.

Our nice-to-have requirements are:

• Can collect large number of samples without human intervention.
• Requires minimal custom design/layout of the plants in the greenhouse.
• Sample storage (96 well SBS format plate) capabilities

What's out of scope:

• Solutions where the plant travels to a stationary sampling instrument

Benefits

• Sponsored research of up to $100,000 for a proof of concept, with additional potential funding for further development.
• Expertise to aid any potential project, we can offer expertise in plant growth and care and in controlled environment systems.
• Facilities and services - utilising Bayer greenhouse facilities to test ideas and solutions.

How to apply:

Have you got a great idea to solve this challenge? For more information or details on how to apply, click "Visit website" or "Enquire now" to connect with the Team.