Startups pitching during StartLife breakfast session

Water Shortage: The Next Global ChallengeWater is our first necessity in life. And that is the reason water shortage is such a serious global challenge. Affected are every continent around the world and not just those regions that are traditionally dry. It already affects around 2.8 billion people around the world at least one month out of every year. And by 2050, half of the world’s population is expected to be affected.

The idea for Sponsh started while traveling with a camper through Portugal in summer. The country was experiencing its worst drought in years. It had not rained for several months, the land was yellow and the water reservoirs at their lowest ever. Still, every morning our gear outside was soaking wet. Remembering one of the ideas in Blue Economy, we got into contact with Eindhoven University of Technology. They had recently done an amazing bionica invention in water absorption from the air. We decided to work together to scale-up this material and make it into a product available for everyone.

Our Vision

Solving water scarcity by providing affordable water for everyone. Revitalising communities affected by water shortage due to climate change. Making barren land fertile again.

Our Mission

Learning from nature to develop smart solutions for supplying affordable water everywhere.

• Deep Learning Based Computer Vision As opposed to classical mechanization, the addition of sensing like computer vision distinguishes robotics from mere physically reactive systems. By using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, e.g. machine learning based Deep Learning, a graphical scene can be interpreted in a very high detail of individual components.
• End-effector Manipulation Given that there is an enormous amount of variation in a natural growing crop, e.g. in the ways fruits and vegetables are positioned and sized, the end-effector has the requirement to cope with every situation if a high harvest success rate is desired. Moreover, the interaction with the hardware and the product must ensure the fruit or vegetable does not get bruised or cut during the harvest or transporting to a storage bin.
• Robot Integration and Control The system as a whole needs to be integrated and centrally controlled. By using the industrial version of the `Robotic Operating System’ (ROS), i) all hard- and software components can be interconnected and communicate and ii) the high-level behaviour of the robot can be implemented after which iii) path planning of the manipulator can be executed in simulation or in practice.
• (Autonomous) Greenhouse Logistics. Besides an individual robot that can harvest autonomously with a high speed and success rate, the system must be placed onto an platform that can drive through the greenhouse autonomously. Furthermore, the harvested products need to be placed in a local buffer and taken over by other autonomous vehicles to be transported to the central sorting and packaging hall of the greenhouse.

The captured data will be uploaded then via one API into the Clevabit Cloud, where data will be combined and analysed with AI to provide Endcustomers with an enhanced set of data accessible via Smartphone, Tablet and Computer from any place in the world.