Zordi, a startup founded by Gilwoo Lee, is revolutionizing sustainable farming with its innovative approach to autonomous agriculture. Driven by Lee’s passion for robotics, healthy eating, and environmental sustainability, the company is making significant strides in the agriculture industry.
Lee, who was in the final stages of her Ph.D. in AI and robotics at the University of Washington, had already secured investor backing before finishing her doctorate. Along with co-founder Casey Call, a former head grower at vertical farming startup Plenty, Lee launched Zordi in 2020. The company’s robotic strawberry harvesters have already made their way into major retailers like Wegmans, and Zordi is expanding its operations in New Jersey and California.
“The most rewarding part is that the fruits taste amazing,” Lee said. “By constantly optimizing, we can ensure consistently great results throughout the plant’s life cycle.”
Zordi operates two types of robots in its hydroponic systems: a scouting robot to monitor plant health and a harvesting robot designed for delicate fruit picking and other tasks. The company’s engineering team, based outside of Boston, utilizes NVIDIA GPUs both in the cloud and on desktops to train its AI models, which help assess plant health, identify pests and diseases, and ensure optimal growing conditions.
The company aims to scale its autonomous greenhouses worldwide, reducing transportation-related carbon footprints while delivering fresher, more sustainable produce. Zordi currently operates farms in New Jersey and New York, and has formed new partnerships with greenhouse farms in those regions to meet increasing demand.
AI and Robotics Powering Sustainable Farming
Zordi is harnessing AI and robotics to drive sustainable, large-scale farming operations. It uses NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin modules to power its robots and AI models. These models are responsible for tasks such as monitoring plant health, detecting early signs of pests or disease, and managing key factors like hydration, light, and temperature.
Lee notes that Jetson’s energy efficiency and its compatibility with low-cost, high-performance cameras from NVIDIA partners make it a key tool for Zordi. The company uses several cameras on each robot to collect data, which helps improve the robots’ performance while optimizing battery life.
Jetson’s flexibility has also allowed Zordi to experiment with different cameras, further enhancing their capabilities. “Jetson opens up a lot of lower-cost camera options, which helps us better manage power,” said Lee.
One of the biggest challenges facing farms worldwide is a shortage of labor, which often leads to unharvested crops. Zordi aims to address this issue with its autonomous robots, ensuring that crops are consistently monitored and harvested efficiently.
Lee is also focused on advancing the dexterity of the company’s harvesting robots. “We want our robots to take on more delicate tasks, like pruning leaves,” she said, which will be facilitated by the use of simulation technology.
Simulations and Digital Twins to Optimize Operations
Zordi is further enhancing its operations with the help of AI-powered simulations and digital twins, tools commonly used in industrial manufacturing. Using Omniverse’s Isaac Sim, Zordi can simulate various farming scenarios, such as delicate crop handling, which can improve harvest quality and shelf life.
The company’s software platform allows for real-time monitoring of plant health through a live dashboard. This tool provides a spatial map of the farm, making it easy to track plant growth and production remotely. The system also uses AI models to offer actionable crop care recommendations, which can help even inexperienced farm operators manage their operations more effectively.
“We’re very close to integrating everything into Isaac Sim and Omniverse,” said Lee, whose Ph.D. research focused on reinforcement learning and sim-to-real systems.
Zordi is working on refining its robot’s ability to handle crops like strawberries, cucumbers, and tomatoes, with plans to expand into more crop categories. “The key to extending shelf life is handling crops delicately,” Lee explained.
A Vision for Fully Autonomous Farming
Looking ahead, Lee envisions a fully autonomous farming system that combines advanced robotics and AI to simplify farming operations and increase profitability. The AI will not only recommend sustainable crop-care strategies but also handle much of the physical labor through automation.
“What’s crucial for us is automating farming processes and developing an AI that can make smart, independent decisions for the farm,” Lee said.
With its innovative approach to farming, Zordi is poised to make a lasting impact on the agricultural industry, bringing sustainable, high-quality produce to markets while reducing the environmental impact of traditional farming methods.
Related topics: