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STORAGE
Keep every grain safe with a robot that swims through grain
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by Dr Lorenzo Conti, Crover Ltd, UK
rover Ltd is on a mission to help grain-storekeepers reduce losses and maintain optimum storage conditions. Its product, the “Crover”, is the first and only remote monitoring robotic device that provides real-time data on the temperature and moisture levels throughout the whole grain storage unit while “swimming” through the
grain (See Figure 1). Grain is the second most traded commodity in the world after oil and yet much of its supply chain processes are still dependent on archaic and old methods. In fact, up until now, a grain storage unit is a “black box” – there is no clear picture of what is going on inside. Like a drone’s wings in air, or a boat’s rotor in water, a Crover robot uses our patented method for locomotion in bulk solids to move through solid grains, while building a full map of conditions within the grain storage unit using sensors on its body. Grain-storekeepers will finally be able to enter and “see within” any storage vessel and make proactive decisions to start optimising yield and revenue from every harvest besides #SavingGrains.
Store grain adequately or lose profit!
Cereal grains are the basis of staple food, yet post-harvest losses during long-term 88 | August 2020 - Milling and Grain
storage are exceptionally high, above 20 percent in the UK and worldwide. Pests are to blame, with grain moisture content and temperature being the most significant factors. In developing and designing the Crover robot, we’ve researched and spoken to some of our potential customers so that our Crovers not only address the issue of verifying grain conditions within a storage unit, but they are also being created with the end user in mind. We’re taking into account the entire customer journey, from setting up a Crover to receiving alerts on your phone when conditions aren’t optimal (see Figure 2).