Founded in 2016, Gearbox from Maasdijk (Westland) can accelerate the delivery of the new generation of digital workers to the horticultural sector, partly thanks to the recruitment of Shawn Harris (Orange Wings) as an investor. These new employees are a Digital Inspector, Cultivation Advisor and Harvest Assistant who, using smart cameras and machine learning software, support growers, breeders and traders in their daily work with automation, robotisation and digitisation. All these robots also generate immediate real-time insight into product quality and stock in the greenhouse based on high-quality data.
Investment accelerates international growth
Gearbox is growing rapidly and, with nearly 20 employees, has recently moved to a larger location in Maasdijk. Here, the young company has a large workshop and experience lab, where it engineers, manufactures and tests all its products. The development of this new generation of 'robot employees' has been made possible in part by attracting an actively involved investor. Shawn Harris' knowledge and experience as founder and former CEO of Nature's Pride is invaluable in the further development of Gearbox's product family.
I’m really excited to support the management team at Gearbox in making important strategic decisions, and to help them in growing their customer base in and outside of the Netherlands. Their accuracy, capability to deliver what they promise, and early proven track record is impressive. Helping the growers manage with data is a game changer. It's cool to hear how the early adopters like to check this data every day. It gives them valuable information in order to make decisions that can improve their quality and increase production. All these Gearbox options make growers' daily tasks easier with much more accurate information and will support them in achieving lower costs and better results." – Shawn Harris (Orange Wings)
“Orange Wings’ investment will enable Gearbox to expand into the international market. This will allow us to deliver data-driven robots for the Agri and Food sector on a large scale in a shorter period of time,” say Gearbox founders Simone Keijzer and Johan Kreeft.
Hillenraad Partners supported Gearbox in finding the right match: "Gearbox has achieved an impressive amount in four years, but also realised that the market demands even more speed. This is a great step in the growth strategy for a promising company, driven by a passion for high tech and with roots in Westland, where the entire team is fully convinced that the Netherlands will not lose its leading role in the horticultural sector," says Martien Penning (Hillenraad Partners).
Digital inspectors and cultivation assistants convert images into data
From its headquarters in Maasdijk, Gearbox supplies GearVision, a digital inspector that performs consistent daily inspections on tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions and other crops. In addition, the digital cultivation assistant, GearSense, has also been available since 2020. This supports cultivation advisors and growers in monitoring and assessing crops in the greenhouse. For example, cameras with machine learning are used to determine the ripeness of vegetables and flowers. This enables growers to better predict the harvest, as they know how the crops are currently developing in the greenhouse. With the use of GearSense in tomato cultivation, the automated digital counts and colour registration provide reliable, digitised input for harvest forecasts and management reports.
Robots as colleagues
The next 'employee' in the Gearbox product family is the GearRover. This is a harvesting assistant that supports growers in scouting, assessing and harvesting both vegetables and flowers. The mobile robot will be introduced shortly and uses the same smart technology as the GearSense, enabling this new colleague to easily assess the ripeness of tomatoes or roses. At a time when 'just gardening' is not a given due to the virus pressure, a GearRover offers a solution and allows growers to easily monitor the quality and growth rate of their crops digitally with clear reports. Work is also already underway on the next team member: the harvesting robot for vine tomatoes will be available in 2022.
