Late last class , Hoogendoorn Growth Management had heavy word . This Dutch company proudly presented ' its biggest instauration to escort ' - IIVO . This is a next - level processing computing gadget . And it ’s the horticultural mechanisation company ’s novel flagship project . But , at the same time , Hoogendoorn had another proclamation . Peter Hendriks was to become a CEO .
That engagement became prescribed on 1 Janaury 2021 . So , there was no better time to interview Peter ( 39 ) . We spoke to this new Hoogendoorn manager about innovation , algorithmic program , and partnerships to help the company to keep affect forrard . " With IIVO , we ’ve created all the circumstance to go full steam ahead , " get Peter .
Peter ( r ) forms part of the company ’s management squad alongside familiar faces - Martin Helmich ( liter ) and Freerk Visser ( not pictured).Martin remains responsible for commercial client and pardner sexual intercourse . Freek will see to the operating side of thing . Peter is focusing on innovation and scheme .
Expertise
The company has pass the last few years quietly working toward this goal . " We put 50 years of code aside to ramp up something truly raw . For us , IIVO is the first huge footfall towards automate culture . "
For IIVO , ' all past development and regulations were held up to the light again ' . What ’s good , and what could be improved ? Above all , what will be require in the futurity in this apace changing external human race ? This resulted in a robust , thinking organisation . compare to its predecessor , iSii , it ’s ' even more exploiter - well-disposed and versatile ' . It ’s also straightforward to expand .
“ Growers and crop consultants can set up up the system to on the dot suit their needs . That ’s where IIVO is no unlike from the iSii . However , we ’ve greatly ameliorate the user experience . That ’s when it comes to dashboards and data provision . It ’s much easy to operate remotely . Operating multiple location is A-one dewy-eyed , and back - ups and update are set mechanically , " say Peter .
But Hoogendoorn has also made great strides regarding scheme and their use . " We ’ve put bully effort into lend algorithmic program and making the schemes smarter . We watch the Plant Empowerment principles for this . We ’ve already demonstrated this to the world-wide public too . That was , as part of the winning squad , in the last Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge . "
Clients can select if they ’d wish to apply these principle in the hereafter too . " Our focus was and is on innovation , but it ’s entirely customer - orientated . That ’s why we ’re in constant dialogue with them . What should we be developing or not ? Is our strategy correct ? Our clients are , after all , the ones using the system in their greenhouses . They ’re , therefore , busy with autonomous cultivation . The challenge was to prove that the algorithmic rule employment , which we did . Now the interrogative sentence is , are people eagerly await this new idea ? " Hendriks wonders .
Rather EI than AI
Still , many citizenry do n’t hug the idea of ' autonomous finish ' . Peter ’s aware of that . He does n’t like using that umbrella term . mass often mention this in the same breathing time as Artificial Intelligence . " We favor to use the condition ' data - driven cultivation ' . That ’s what IIVO allows agriculturalist to do . More data point is becoming available . That enable us to write unspoiled and better algorithms . That ’s our expertise - Expert Intelligence . Computers can apply this , along with the culture datum compile in practice , to make decisions . "
What ’s lively here is that growers can always sympathize and explain ' the system ’s ' decisions . " That ’s why , in data - driven cultivation , we work consort to the Plant Empowerment principles . That theoretic framework control all the canonical principle on which we base our reflexive polish control . Say the screens , temperature , or humidness are master slightly differently to what the grower ’s accustomed . These normal must be able-bodied to excuse why . "
" Ideally , agriculturalist should first learn about these principle . They should then put it into pattern . Only in footstep three do we rent the mood computer do its oeuvre mechanically . This prevent growers from immediately turning off the algorithm button if the greenhouse climate is ' different ' from what they ’re used to , " Peter explains .
" Of course , raiser can always ascertain their own strategy , together with their consultant . They can adjust it accordingly . In this way , you let the algorithms do the work for you . Experience shows that IIVO , with its millions of lines of code , allows growers to educate their product very smartly and at a high-pitched level . "
In the come years , ' regulation - drive ' greenhouse management will more and more become ' algorithm - driven' . That still differs from fully ' autonomous refinement ' . " You still need people on the ground keeping an heart on things , " Peter articulate .
The thought that Artificial Intelligence can puzzle out everything sounds great . But Peter does n’t see this natural event . Nor does he see the time value of recondite learning here . That could include ego - learning algorithms based on retiring data . " When it comes to clime ascendancy , we very deliberately did n’t choose for this at present . It ’s great to use for crop prognostication , for example . It can predict the crop ever good . "
" But there ’s a danger when it comes to nursery clime . The organisation might interpret in wrong preceding data . For instance , from a fourth dimension when the climate was n’t yet optimum . Or it could include mistakes made when say the system ’s behavior . We trust you should use Artificial Intelligence to betoken what will happen . You should , however , habituate Expert Intelligence to determine whether what the best affair is to do . We , therefore , combine the two in IIVO , " the young CEO preserve .
Flexible foundation
Soon , more growers will be introduced to IIVO and its Expert Intelligence . " While evolve IIVO , internationalization was look at far more than when we were developing its harbinger , iSii . In the coming years , horticulture acreage will continue to grow very chop-chop . That ’s needed to properly feed the mankind ’s population . It will lucubrate much faster than grower can be trained . "
" That increase demands innovative , improved proficiency . Now , IIVO offers a flexible foundation for continued development , without running the jeopardy of it becoming obsolete , " Peter says . " That ’s why we ’ve put so much muscularity into making it possible to update the system remotely . We no longer have to physically insert a compact disk , as we used to call it . Now , we can distribute new update remotely , online . After all-inclusive testing , of course . "
They may have introduced this innovative organization , but the people at this Dutch company are n’t sitting back . They can really get going with IIVO . At the same time , they ’re keeping their ears and eyes capable . What do guest and agriculturist require ? They also want to see what potentially interesting invention from inside and outside horticulture are on offer .
" I certainly consider thing like newfangled robotics and sensor from an invention position . These are wee-wee more and more previously ' unmeasurable ' things mensurable . The principles of Plant Empowerment , in which the plant is central , are invaluable . So , with the avail of IIVO , agriculturalist will produce even impudent , " Peter resolve .
For more information : Hoogendoorn Growth ManagementWebsite : www.hoogendoorn.nlEmail:[email protected]Peter HendriksEmail:[email protected ]
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