Project
The Dutch Testing and Experimentation Facility for Robotic and AI based Innovations in Agriculture
The Dutch AgrifoodTEF is an open test and experimentation facility (TEF) for companies to build trust and accelerate their innovative solutions for the agri-food market that are based on AI and/or robotics. AgrifoodTEF offers a dedicated team of WUR-experts, tailored services and a professional and reliable infrastructure. Services can e.g. be the technical assistance in design and prototyping, independent testing of robotic components and systems, test of different sensor applications and image analysis, algorithm training for AI models, and testing under realistic simulated, lab and real-world environments.
AgrifoodTEF is funded by the European Union's Digital Europe program and National governments (in the Netherlands by the ministries of LNV and EZK). The project aims to develop a network of testing and experimentation facilities across Europe to help innovators test and validate their AI and robotics solutions for the agri-food sector. With the AgrifoodTEF, WUR aims to promote innovative, broadly applicable solutions in agriculture and food production. We do this by reducing the gap between research and application of new techniques and ensuring the quality of the techniques for the end users. In this way, we contribute to Europe's leading role as an innovative agricultural region in the world.
Interested?
Discuss your question with WUR experts or service contact points confidentially, free of charge and without obligation and do not hesitate to contact us.
WUR-Experts
WUR can cover a variety of topics and sectors and has quite some test environments and shared research facilities available. However, for the agrifoodTEF we mainly focus on robotic and AI solutions.
Main contacts: Erik Pekkeriet for robotics and Ioannis Athanasiadis for AI.
WUR specializes in the testing of and experimenting with relatively new farming systems that are based on Agro Ecological principles. These principles represent the need for scientific ecological farming practices with a systems approach that integrate interdisciplinary knowledge, including AI and robotics, to study different aspects of plant and animal production at various integration levels ranging from crop and herd to farm and rural area. Our physical locations of the Farm of the Future (arable), De Marke (livestock) and the Vision+Robotics lab are also working on these new farming systems. Main contacts: Paul van Zoggel for arable farming, Elles te Winkel-Leijdekkers for Dairy farming and Jos Ruizendaal for horticulture.
WUR also sees the upcoming need to test and experiment in a virtual environment were simulation, models, data-sets, AI-pipelines, benchmarks and digital twins can be used to test and experiment in a more controlled environment that is more flexible, richer in scenarios and less dependent on weather and local circumstances. WUR invests in the development and use of this virtual test environment on top of the physical TEF environment, and use the expertise of the Wageningen Data Competence Centre.
Main contacts: Henri Holster, Gert Kootstra, Ard Nieuwenhuizen
WUR also specializes on ethical, legal and social aspects and business models and market information, since it is clear that working on AI and robotic solutions should not be done in an isolated technical context, but be part of an open, transparent and explainable innovation climate. Also uptake of robotic and AI solutions needs proper understanding of markets and business approaches. The ELSA lab plays a key role in this.
Main contacts: Mireille van Hilten and Vincent Blok for ELSA aspects, Gohar Isakhanyan and Jos Verstegen for business models and market information.
Tailored Services
WUR is capable to support you with the following types of services: 1) test design, setup, and execution, 2) collection, provision and analysis of (test) data sets, 3) AI and simulation model development and use, 4) performance evaluation and conformity assessment, and 5) desk, ELSA and business assessments. In the European catalogue of services https://catalogue.agrifoodtef.eu/ you can find the following services from WUR.
Co-design of Robotic and AI systems and components
Contact: Ard Nieuwenhuizen, Koen van Boheemen, Bram Veldhuisen for arable farming: Elles te Winkel-Leijdekkers for Livestock farming: Marc-Jeroen van den Boogaardt for Value Sensitive Design
Test, validation and data collection of Robotic and AI systems and components
Contact: Johan Booij, Corné Lugtenburg, Andries van der Meer for arable farming: Elles te Winkel-Leijdekkers for Livestock farming: Rick van de Zedde for Phenotyping support
Business Model and Market development support for Robotic and AI solutions
Contact: Gohar Isakhanyan, Mireille van Hilten for arable farming: Elles te Winkel-Leijdekkers, Henri Holster for Livestock farming: Jos Verstegen for Business Innovation support using the 5D model of business innovation (modelling)
ELSA scan, User Acceptance Testing and support for AI and Robotic applications -- Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects
Contact: Mireille van Hilten, Vincent Blok
Provision of specific and long term data sets for arable and livestock farming data from the Farm of the Future experimental farms
Contact: Andries van der Meer for arable farming: Elles te Winkel-Leijdekkers for Livestock farming: Daoud Urdu and Joep Tummers for Cultivating Data in Farming with Semantic Standards and Interoperability Support.
Support in developing, testing and using explainable AI Models (simulation, early warning, DSS) and Digital Twins
Contact: Fedde Sijbrandij, Frits van Evert, Rick van de Zedde, Elles te Winkel-Leijdekkers
Provision of Farmmaps and Agro Data Cube platforms for data handling platform to support Precision farming and KPI accounting data services
Contact: Fedde Sijbrandij, Ben Schaap, Sander Janssen
Training for AI- and Robotic Skills and Education, MOOCs
Contact: Ben Schaap
If you need other support do not hesitate to contact us to find a proper solution. If we do not have the proper service we can help you to find it in other partners of the European agrifoodTEF network.
Professional Infrastructure
WUR has the ambition to further strengthen its (inter)national position in AI, data and robotics in the agrifood domain. AgrifoodTEF brings the opportunity to further professionalize and expand our physical and virtual experimental facilities. WUR is aware that technological solutions will only have value in a proper ethical, legal, social and business context. WUR is market and science driven and is based in both Wageningen Research and Wageningen University. WUR is involved in various initiatives related to AI, data and robotics. They are among others represented in the Dutch AI coalition, (European) Digital Innovation Hub networks like Smart Agri Hubs, agROBOfood and BOOST, and in a multitude of (inter)national Public Private Partnership and B2B projects. WUR invests in data driven discoveries in a changing climate and in applying high tech solutions.
Schematically the following WUR infrastructure will be used actively in agrifoodTEF.
