NAME: DEEPFIELD Sensor
DATE: 2014/2015
Images courtesy: Robert Bosch GmbH
CLIENT: Bosch start-up platform
Role: Industrial design lead & PRoduct strategy
TEAM: 1 ID designer, 2 interaction, 3 researchers , 1 prototyper
Awards: Agritechnica Innovation award 2015 Silver
FAITH: LAunched in 2015
The BOSCH start-up BOSP Bonirob, wanted to know if farmers would be helped by robotics. After a thorough field research we came up with 2 main conclusions; Robots won’t help farmers, the real problems are lack of data and knowledge to justify the farmers gut feeling and the fact that hand labour is necessary but nearly impossible to do in the future.
The product launch in October 2015 on Germany’s leading asparagus and strawberry fair was so successful that it sold out in 2 weeks.
K.I.S.S
As Bosch is the world leader in sensor technology, we decided to focus on asparagus farming, a high value market where the farmer can intervene easily.
The solution was simple but very effective: by remotely providing the 4 critical temperatures, the farmer can predict season start, increase yield, avoid loss of crops and improve quality. Having permanent access to these parameters, the farmer had full confidence in his decisions.
Concept
As this would be farm equipment, it needed to be sturdy, rugged but still look like it would take farming to a new era. This quick sketch was used to explain how the hardware would function.
UI
The farmer has a permanent overview on the Deepfield app what the temperatures are on his fields, what foil he is using get an accurate weather prediction. He even gets alarmed when the critical values are reached. Together with accurate weather forecast, he can manage the workers and his fields.
Prototype
Within 4 weeks we were in the ground measuring soil temperature in 4 different depths, sending data to the cloud and allowing the farmer to live overview the field status with a full functional prototype.
