A plant growing system comprising a growing panel and a porous air hose coupled to the growing panel. The growing panel includes a plurality of openings for receiving a plurality of plant receptacles. The plurality of openings are arranged in a plurality of parallel lines on the growing panel, and the porous air hose extends along the growing panel between at least two of the parallel lines.

There is provided a seedbed holding unit capable of reliably and firmly holding a seedbed with a simple structure, causing no damage to a plant. A seedbed holding unit 160 that holds a seedbed B used in plant cultivation includes a first holding member 170 and a second holding member 180 that are rotatable relative to each other about a predetermined rotation axis A, the first holding member 170 is provided with a first claw part 173 in a fixed state, the second holding member 180 is provided with a second claw part 183 in a fixed state, and the seedbed B is held between the first claw part 173 and the second claw part 183 by rotating the first holding member 170 and the second holding member 180 relative to each other.

There is provided a plant-transplanting device that, with a simple structure and at a low cost, realizes speedy and stable transplantation, prevents damage to a plant, and is easily automated. A plant-transplanting device 100 that transplants a seedbed B from a plant holder 110 to a cultivation pallet 120 includes a holder retaining mechanism 130, a pallet retaining mechanism 140 for retaining the cultivation pallet 120 below a holder retaining position of the holder retaining mechanism 130, and a lowering mechanism 150 for lowering the seedbed B retained by a holder seedbed retaining part 111 downward and inserting the seedbed B into a pallet seedbed retaining part 121.

One variation of a method for automating transfer of plants within an agricultural facility includes: dispatching a loader to autonomously deliver a first moduledefining a first array of plant slots at a first density and loaded with a first set of plants at a first growth stagefrom a first grow location within an agricultural facility to a transfer station within the agricultural facility; dispatching the loader to autonomously deliver a second moduledefining a second array of plant slots at a second density less than the first density and empty of plantsto the transfer station; recording a module-level optical scan of the first module; extracting a viability parameter of the first set of plants from features detected in the module-level optical scan; and if the viability parameter falls outside of a target viability range, rejecting transfer of the first set of plants from the first module.

A farming method may be shown and described. In an exemplary embodiment, plants may begin in a germination phase. Next, plants are brought to a nursery for a period of time before optionally being transplanted to one or more subsequent nurseries. Finally, plants are transplanted to a greenhouse where they may grow until they are ready for harvest. In an exemplary embodiment, the nursery phases may be vertical farms while the greenhouse phase may be a traditional, hydroponic, or other type of farm which may receive sunlight. AI may be implemented to optimize environmental conditions and robotics may be used to harvest the plants. Plants may be indexed to efficiently expedite plant growth and optimize the time and plant density/spacing in each phase.

A harvest tray for carrying potted herbs, the harvest tray including a rectangular base portion, having two parallel long sides and two parallel short sides, wherein an extension direction of the two long sides defines a longitudinal direction of the harvest tray, a pair of side walls, each side wall arranged in the direction of the long sides of the base portion, respectively, and extending in a vertical direction from the base portion, said side walls defining two sides of a reception cavity, dividing elements, arranged in a row in said reception cavity, said dividing elements being distanced from the side walls defining the reception cavity, at least along a portion of their height, such that an open passage is formed on each side of the row of dividing elements along a portion of the height of the reception cavity in the longitudinal direction of said harvest tray.

A vertical farming facility that includes a system for handling a working head, the system includes a cantilever and a beam, the beam connected to the cantilever, the cantilever has a first free end section and a first connecting end section, the cantilever is arranged mainly horizontally and has a cantilever axis and the beam is arranged mainly vertically and has a beam axis, the cantilever is movable within the vertical farming facility, a gripper that includes the working head is movably connected to the beam and configured to handle plants and/or plant receptacles, the vertical farming facility has a first facility wall to which the cantilever is connected via the first connecting end section, the cantilever is perpendicular and translationally movable with respect to the first facility wall or pivotably connected to the first facility wall.

A logistics system includes a first high-bay rack, at least one further high-bay rack, and at least one robot arm with a plurality of links and joints connecting the links for relative adjustment. One of the links is a bottom link of the robot arm which forms a base. The first high-bay rack has a first robot arm carrier with a first coupling device which, in a state in which the robot arm is coupled to the first robot arm carrier, interacts with a counter-coupling device of the bottom link of the robot arm in such a way that, in a first configuration of the logistics system, the bottom link of the robot arm is connected to the first robot arm carrier in an automatically locked and automatically releasable manner. The further high-bay rack has a further robot arm carrier with a further coupling device which, in a state in which the robot arm is coupled to the further robot arm carrier, interacts with the counter-coupling device of the bottom link of the robot arm in such a way that, in a second configuration of the logistics system, which is different from the first configuration, the bottom link of the robot arm is connected to the further robot arm carrier in an automatically locked and automatically releasable manner.

Disclosed herein is a system for growing and harvesting living matter. The system includes trays. The system also includes a racking portion, including at least one rack having shelves vertically spaced apart from each other and a robot selectively operable to deliver the trays to and retrieve the trays from the shelves. The system further includes a processing portion, including a harvester configured to receive the trays from the shelves and to remove living matter from the trays, and a seeder configured to receive the trays from the harvester and to distribute seed to the trays. The system additionally includes an electronic controller operable to autonomously control operation of the robot to deliver the trays, after seeded by the seeder, to the shelves and to retrieve the trays, when the seed has grown into the living matter, from the shelves.

An extendable plant tray assembly comprising a plurality of plant holders in a grid structure, wherein in a first direction said plant holders are movably connected through an extension system arranged to move said assembly between a retracted position and an extended position, the assembly including at least one grid structure element holding a plurality of plant holders in a second direction transverse to said first direction, wherein the plurality of plant holders are arranged on the at least one grid structure element in a staggered manner, alternating a plant holder with a plant holder receiving space, wherein the extension system comprises extendable connection members which are configured to connect at least two grid structure elements, and wherein the extendable connection members are detachably connected to said at least two grid structure elements.