Smart agriculture refers to the application of new technologies for the optimization of resources in agriculture. The Internet of Things, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, blockchain or robotics are some of the technologies that have had the greatest impact on this sector.

At AIR Institute and the IoT Digital Innovation Hub we participate in several smart agriculture projects, among them, Expand IntelWines which is supported by the European initiative EXPAND SmartAgriHubs. It is based on the development and implementation of new artificial intelligence techniques in the production process of a winery, to support decision making and improve food safety.

The application of artificial intelligence in viticulture

The wine company, Pago de Carraovejas, located in Valladolid and founded in the 1970s, has gained great recognition for its quality wines. It is currently immersed in the process of digitizing its different processes in the wine value chain, from the vineyard itself to the consumer, in order to optimize resources, reduce costs and improve quality and food safety, for which it is implementing, among others, a platform for product traceability at all stages.

However, our greatest contribution will be in improving the product palletization process. Pago de Carraovejas is looking for a solution to increase the load capacity of each pallet, thus reducing the number of pallets needed in shipments and reducing transportation costs. Such a solution should provide the optimal arrangement of boxes on each pallet for workers in the palletizing process through an interface that respects ergonomics in the work environment.

Our solution will bring among other things, a decrease in the average time spent in palletizing products and in turn a 20% decrease in the costs associated with pallet shipments, due to the reduction of the total number of packages and the reduction of their volumetric weight. Undoubtedly, a great initiative that can be replicated in other companies in the sector.

Posted by Juan M. Corchado

Juan Manuel Corchado (15 May 1971, Salamanca, Spain) is Professor at the University of Salamanca. He has been Vice-Rector for Research from 2013 to 2017 and Director of the Science Park of the University of Salamanca. Elected as Dean of the Faculty of Science twice, he holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Salamanca and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of the West of Scotland. He leads the renowned BISITE (Bioinformatics, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology) Research Group, created in 2000. Director of the IoT Digital Innovation Hub and President of the AIR Institute, J. M. Corchado is also Visiting Professor at the Osaka Institute of Technology since January 2015, Visiting Professor at the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Member of the Advisory Group on Online Terrorist Propaganda of the European Counter Terrorism Centre (EUROPOL). J. M. Corchado has been president of the IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society, and academic coordinator of the University Institute for Research in Art and Animation Technology at the University of Salamanca, as well as researcher at the Universities of Paisley (UK), Vigo (Spain) and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK). He currently combines all his activity with the direction of Master programmes in Security, Digital Animation, Mobile Telephony, Information Systems Management, Internet of Things, Social Media, 3D Design and Printing, Blockchain, Z System, Industry 4.0, Agile Project Management, and Smart Cities & Intelligent Buildings, at the University of Salamanca and his work as editor-in-chief of the journals ADCAIJ (Advances in Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence Journal), OJCST (Oriental Journal of Computer Science and Technology) or Electronics MDPI (Computer Science & Engineering section). J. M. Corchado mainly works on projects related to Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, IoT, Fog Computing, Edge Computing, Smart Cities, Smart Grids and Sentiment Analysis. He has recently been included in the board of trustees of the AstraZeneca Foundation, along with other health professionals and researchers recognised for bringing scientific knowledge closer to society.

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