Overview
- Burros are people-scale collaborative robots designed to help people work more productively today, while building the base for more automation where it is needed most
- Burros use computer vision, high precision GPS, and AI to follow people and navigate autonomously from A to B while carrying various payloads
- Burros feature a novel and patent-pending approach called Pop Up Autonomy™ – with Pop Up Autonomy™ Burros work immediately out of the box, everyone becomes an operator, and there is no need for a means of commanding everything centrally or installing infrastructure
- Generation 5 Burros began running in trial use through the 2019 table grape season, where they enabled crews of 6 to 10 to pick/pack 42% more fruit each day. In 2020, fleets of Generation 6 Burros began running in commercial use in June, and have traveled nearly 10,000 autonomous miles
- Today, we are taking orders for Generation 7 Burros, for delivery in Spring 2021
- If you’d like to demo Burros, email sales@burro.ai
Burros in Use Gallery
Specifications
| Autonomy | |
|---|---|
| People Following | Vision based |
| Teach and Repeat | Vision based + GPS |
| Row Following | Vision based |
| Teach and Repeat with Row Following | Vision based + GPS |
| Obstacle handling - stopping and avoidance/path planning | Vision based |
| Data Collection | up to 1 terabyte / hour |
| Crop row scouting | Vision based |
| Remote View | Online dashboard view (see robot on map, what it's doing, and what it is seeing) |
| Other behaviors coming soon |
| Computing and Sensors | |
|---|---|
| Cameras | 12 |
| GPS | RTK |
| CPU & GPU | Onboard (all computing onboard/local) |
| Storage | 512GB |
| Modem | ATT/Verizon 4G LTE Modem |
| Cooling | Zero-ingress forced-air cooling system |
| Interface, Safety, and Lighting | |
|---|---|
| Bumper Bars | Front and Rear |
| Lighting | Safety/area lighting front and rear |
| Safety Noises | Alerts so users hear Burro and know what Burro is doing |
| Size & Weight | |
|---|---|
| Weight, lbs. (kg) | 300 (136) |
| Max Payload, lbs. (kg) | 500 (226) |
| Max Speed, MPH (M/S) | 5 (2.25) |
| Length, Inches (cm) | 52 (132) |
| Width, Inches (cm) | 27 (68.5) for narrow applications, or 36 (91.4) for Table Grape Growers |
| Height, Inches (cm) | 26 (66) |
| Tires | 14.5 x 5.00-6 |
| Power & Range | |
|---|---|
| Wheel Motors | 5 horsepower |
| Range, miles (KM) | 8(12.8). NOTE: Range depends on speed and load. |
| Batteries | 2 x 135ah SLA Batteries (base). Extended range batteries available. |
| Battery Charge time | 12 hours |
| Batteries Field Swap-able? | yes |
| DC Voltages on platform | 12V, 24V (others available) |
| Pricing and Availability | |
|---|---|
| Availability | orders placed today have an 18 week lead time |
| Pricing | Burros are priced at $16,999, which includes a 3 year sales/support/software updates contract. Alternative pricing, and discounts for volume, are available. |
Q&A
A: Burros feature on-board chargers that can be plugged directly into the wall. Each charger pulls up to 5 amps at 120V, meaning that a regular 20amp outlet can support 3 to 4 Burros. Batteries can also be swapped in field in 3 minutes without any tools.
A: Range is a function of load, speed, terrain, and temperature. In real world testing, our batteries can yield 7 to 8 miles of range while running 2 miles per hour and loaded 50% of the time, with an average load of around 240 pounds.
For growers who need more range, we can offer higher cost batteries in different chemistries, or users can swap batteries over the course of their use.
A: In Table Grape production one Burro can support up to 6 to 8 people working (2-3 packers, 4-6 pickers) depending on crew layout, crop load, and picker speed. You can download this excel model to make different assumptions.
A: See this video which runs through things you can do to help Burros run smoothly. In short, relatively clean rows without too many weeds or vines hanging down, push packing tables to the opposite row and pick out full rows so that Burros can enter/exit easily, and train your crews so they understand how best to use Burro.
The images below illustrate how we see table grape growers laying out their harvesting crews on top, and the optimal way we have observed to harvest with Burros below.
Setup 1: 6-8 people / Burro in a group
- videos here, here, and here
- Totes are ID’ed with no leaf, one leaf, dried leaf or a stick
- Users become a group, and are responsible for operating Burros, but teams remain
- Consistent gains (20-30% gains across 6-8 people)
Central Field Pack
- Pack team is a production line with the process of packing broken down
- Pickers pick field totes and scan them onto Burro (video here); data goes online for management
- People paid individually for performance
- 30-50% gains across 6-8 people / robot, with much better QC
A: You can download this excel model which runs through productivity levels the Augean Robotics team has observed while testing with the California Table Grape Commission. In the optimal scenario for Burro, the productivity gains that have been observed through testing should yield a 24 day ROI.
A: See this paper which runs through the safety we have designed into our product.
Options
Barcode Scanning System
We offer a barcode scanning system for Burro. With this system, growers can get real-time data on employee harvesting productivity. All of this data is also localized to the area from which produce was harvested, enabling primitive yield mapping.
Crop Camera System
Burros can be ordered with a global shutter crop camera and mount. This option is necessary to yield crop scouting data such as cluster counts.
Hitch Kit
Burros can be ordered with a hitch to tow pack tables, or other small wagons.
Expansion and Tool Development
The Burro platform is sold commercially as a product to growers and users in specialty crops including table grapes, blueberries, caneberries, and nursery crops.
A people-scale platform, that is modular and expandable, has enormous potential to deliver ever-more-expansive autonomy where it is needed most. Burros are used for in-field transportation today, but can perform tasks such as towing trailers, UV-treatment, spraying/spot spraying, crop scouting/data collection, and eventually higher dexterity tasks such as picking and pruning. Visit our technology and roadmap page to view our progression towards comprehensive autonomy outdoors.
Additionally, we sell/rent robots, and work collaboratively with research groups and other companies looking to develop further autonomy and capabilities around Burro’s autonomy and data. Please get in touch if you are looking to develop and deploy further tasks to fill opportunities for robotics.
