The EU Horizon project, X-Gain, emerges as a beacon of innovation, aiming to transform rural, coastal, and urban areas with cutting-edge connectivity and computing technologies. At the heart of its collaborative efforts are CAFA Tech, a Estonian technology company, and Scilly Organics, a small-scale vegetable farm on the Isles. CAFA Tech’s contribution involves the development of an multi-robot system that measures soil moisture, provides a comprehensive farm overview, and offers reliable data communication. The Isles of Scilly are set to serve as a demonstration community within the project, illustrating the needs of remote areas through this UK-based use case. Scilly Organics, known for its agility and innovative approach, is able to provide valuable input regarding farmers’ needs.

Annika Tuulemäe, the X-Gain project manager from CAFA Tech, sheds light on the multi-robot system’s capabilities. “It integrates a ground robot with an aerial drone through a cabled connection.  The CAFA Worker Robot places various sensors in the soil, and plant diseases and pests are identified in the photos taken by the drone’s camera using CAFA’s machine vision, VideoLyzer. This approach is very environmentally friendly, as it helps to save the amount of irrigation water, allows an early response to the onset of plant diseases or pest outbreaks, and thereby increases yield,” explained Tuulemäe. “The drone is also equipped with a 5G data router, which ensures good data transmission within a radius of about 700m, so that all the different sensors can transmit their data from the field even in areas where mobile communication is usually absent.”