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San Carlos, California - (Business Wire) - Iron Ox, an agricultural innovation company with deep expertise in plant science, robotics and artificial intelligence, has officially announced its second ground-breaking greenhouse robot, Phil.
Phil is an important supplement to the Iron Ox ecosystem, optimizing plant yields, extending growth cycles and maximizing crop quality. His most advanced sensor technology can identify the water and nutrient mixing trend of each module, and quickly and accurately measure the nutrient content and pH value.
Phil is equipped with UV LEDs, which can be disinfected quickly and efficiently without generating waste. The result is delicious, nutritious, locally sourced fruits and vegetables, and their impact on the environment is greatly reduced.
"The cleverness of Phil is that we can adjust each of the thousands of modules in the Texas greenhouse to grow the same and/or multiple crops under different nutrients, which is in our controlled environment China has rapidly accelerated our understanding of plant science,” said Iron Ox CEO Brandon Alexander (Brandon Alexander), who grew up on a family farm in Texas, picking cotton, potatoes and peanuts.
"This not only allows our growth team to optimize for market needs, while providing each factory with what it needs-eliminating waste, but ultimately this knowledge can and will benefit the entire industry"
Phil is integrated into the Iron Ox greenhouse system, and all the data he collects goes into the company's powerful agricultural data set. This data provides information for the optimization strategy of plant scientists. For example, when Grover brings a module for inspection, water and nutrient content may vary according to different conditions, and the team may see a trend that provides valuable water or nutrient usage for each plant species information.
Phil quickly and accurately filled each 6 x 6 foot plant module in two minutes. How it works: The recently released autonomous mobile robot Grover transports plant modules and docks together with Phil, and Phil uses his advanced sensors to sanitaryly fill it up to the required volume and nutrient mixture.
The module is now ready for Grover to retrieve it and transfer it to the next destination. Phil achieved the high throughput of the module, making the interaction between Grover and Phil similar to a Formula One pit stop. This non-contact procedure eliminates the need to re-sterilize Phil after each module.
Sarah Osentoski, Iron Ox's senior vice president of engineering, said: "The addition of Phil enables the plant module to achieve rapid throughput in an efficient and food safe process." "Phil's advanced sensors provide valuable information to the plant and data scientist team. Optimize the entire closed-loop system of the Iron Ox greenhouse."
In addition, Grover brought the Phil module for inspection throughout the growth cycle of each plant module. Phil first took a small sample of the water and nutrient mixture. The sample enters a reservoir equipped with sensors to measure the nutrient content and pH value of the module. Iron Ox's plant science team uses this data to understand how plants consume water, nutrients, and rate of consumption.
Phil then senses the water level and adjusts it to match his target setting. Another sample is used for verification. When Phil finished his work, Grover brought the plant module back to the corresponding location in the greenhouse.
Phil is another asset of Iron Ox's closed-loop proprietary system, which uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and hydroponics technology to make the global agricultural sector more efficient and robust, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other negative environmental impacts. The company’s technology currently produces a variety of crops, including herbs and lettuce, and uses only a small portion of land, water, and energy compared to food grown on traditional farms.
Iron Ox enters hyper-growth mode
Iron Ox operates a farm in Northern California and broke ground on a 535,000 square foot indoor farm in Lockhart, Texas earlier this year. The company is scaling up significantly, with its robotics team working with an ever-expanding team of plant scientists, growers, roboticists, and data scientists.
Iron Ox products can be found in Whole Foods Markets throughout California and San Francisco Bay Area markets such as Bianchini's and Mollie Stone's. Sales outside of California are expected to begin before the holidays, with the first harvest of the new plant in Texas.
This fall, Iron Ox announced a US$53 million Series C financing led by new investor Breakthrough Energy Ventures, an investment group backed by many of the world's top business leaders, committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
Iron Ox is using the latest round of financing to expand its intellectual property portfolio in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence. The company is accelerating the recruitment of plant scientists, engineers, greenhouse operators and robotics experts to join their dynamic team. To learn more about the Iron Ox career, click here.
Headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, Iron Ox is an agricultural technology start-up company with deep expertise in plant science, robotics, and artificial intelligence. The company's mission is to make the growing fresh produce become carbon-negative. Iron Ox has redesigned every step of the farming process, from seed to shelf, to a level of precision that is impossible with traditional farming. Iron Ox products are delicious, nutritious, sustainable and localized, which greatly reduces food waste and reduces the impact of agriculture on the environment. For more information, please visit www.ironox.com.
Contact Rangin Hedayat ranggin@thebrandamp.com 949-394-1454
Learn how real-time data can help this company establish new business contacts.
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