Masters students in Mechatronics at the University of Limerick last week gave presentations on the projects they are working on. Many of the projects covered are part of the larger E-Cubers’ Feirm CHILSTE project.
Feirm CHILSTE is Irish for Smart Farm. This project involves building a platform that will automate farming in the BMW (Border, Midlands, and West) region of Ireland. The aim is to make farming more economically viable in these areas by dramatically reducing the requirement for physical labour.
E-Cubers Projects Highlighted in the Presentations
- Open source and vendor-neutral approach to developing the Feirm Oibrí platform
- Introduction to Oibrí Chlisté, the vehicle being developed by the teams working on the Smart Farm project. Oibrí is based on electric bike technology. It will be low cost and lightweight, it will operate autonomously, and it will be capable of carrying all the required equipment and materials for the farming project (see an image of the Oibrí’s design below).
- Replenishment via the Bosca – how the Oibrí will recharge autonomously using electricity generated from solar panels.
- Auto-change coupling – solution that enables the Oibrí to autonomously change its equipment.
- Adaptive ground control – solution that will enable the Oibrí to operate autonomously whatever the ground condition, including ground that is wet.
- Autonomous operation – moving from manual control of the vehicle to remote control and then, ultimately, to autonomous operation.
The audience for the presentations included representatives from the Local Enterprise Office and from Enterprise Ireland. The media was there too, as were representatives from UL’s Confirm Centre for Smart Manufacture.