Who we are
Mi5 Bogotá student group objective is to create an interdisciplinary know-how in the Smart Farming domain. This know-how is built through case studies associated to the automatization of agro-industrial processes. The objective of each case study is to develop prototypes for solving current Colombian challenges.
Why we work
The majority of specialty crop production enterprises rely on low-wage, seasonal and usually unskilled labor. This results from the reduction of the availability of job vacancies for lower-skilled, and potentially unsafe production tasks, while creating opportunities for higher skilled and more specialized workers in jobs related to manufacturing, support, service, and finance — and industries that create innovative products or solutions, which in many cases leads to a more competitive market position.
The introduction of automation in crop production industries concerns tools and technologies that can improve efficiency and product quality and also reduce the environmental impact which is an unwanted side-effect of processing.
Posts
Smart Green Island Makeathon 2018
After the participation to the 2017 event, professor Giacomo Barbieri came back to Gran Canaria for the third edition of the Smart Green Island Makeathon 2018. The exponential growth of the event is impressive as [...]
Mi5 Bogotá: September Meeting
Mi5 first meeting: now we officially start! At los Andes University on wednesday, September 27th, the first meeting between Mi5 teams was held. The goal was to show the teams’ progress and to find [...]
Mi5 in Colombia – Kick-off Meeting
On the 19th of August the Mi5 Bogotá student group started officially the operations with a kick-off meeting. Unfortunately the meeting was held on Saturday and 15 students participated while other 10 were unable [...]
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The Challenge: Automatic Harvesting Device
The first project of Mi5 Team Bogotá concerns a smart farming implementation in Colombian coffee fields. Currently, the harvesting is a fully handmade activity. Here are the two main reasons for that:
Field conformation
Colombian coffee fields are located on hillsides and valleys that have a complex and challenging topography for traditional automated harvesting machines. Fields can reach an inclination from 30% to 100%.
Fruit heterogeneity
Coffee bean ripening is not uniform. Therefore, it is necessary to harvest just the red beans while the others must remain in the branch.
These restrictions make the handmade harvesting the most viable and used method in Colombia. However, the manpower has been decreasing in the last years due to population migration to the cities. This situation creates a deficit of labor force in the fields.
Example of field inclination
Fruit heterogeneity
Cenicafé gripper test bench
Universidad de los Andes
The University of Los Andes was founded in Bogotá on November 16, 1948 as the first private institution of higher learning in Colombia with a secular and independent nature. This institution was founded to educate and create a new country that could overcome the political differences of the time. Its mission was to close the gap of knowledge between Colombia and the technological advances made in the rest of the world. This purpose has helped the University of Los Andes to reach local and world recognition as an institution of excellence.
Giacomo Barbieri completed his undergraduate and master studies in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in 2012. In 2015, he graduated from the PhD program on Engineering of Industrial Innovation (XIII) at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia with specialization in Cyber-Physical Design of Production System. In 2016, he joined the “Grupo de Electrónica y Sistemas de Comunicaciones” (GIAP) at the University of Los Andes in Bogotá as Postdoctoral Researcher.
Among the others, during his studies he collaborated with UC Berkeley, Technical University of Munich, Tetra Pak Packaging Solutions SpA and National Instruments.
He is coordinating the Mi5 Bogotá group. If you want to be part of the team, contact him.
Join us
Automatic Harvesting Team
Location
Request Form
Contact
Universidad de los Andes
Cra. 1 #18a-12
Bogotá, Colombia
Phone: +57 3228314660
Email: g.barbieri@uniandes.edu.co