A new conference paper titled “Robotik auf der digitalen Weide: Entwicklung eines autonomen und kontinuierlichen Verfahrens zur Aufwuchshöhenmessung” was presented at the 18. Wissenschaftstagung Ökologischer Landbau 2026.

The study, carried out by a team from the Thünen Institut für Ökologischen Landbau and the Institut für Robotik und Kognitive Systeme, Universität zu Lübeck, introduces an optical measurement system mounted on a Clearpath Robotics Jackal robot for continuous pasture height monitoring.

Two validation experiments compared the system against a Rising Plate Meter (EC20). The first experiment on a 5 × 5 m plot yielded a strong correlation (R² = 0.91) between the robot’s measurements and the reference device. The second field trial, involving diverse grass‑clover mixtures, showed comparable but modest accuracy in biomass estimation (R² ≈ 0.62).

The authors highlight the system’s ability to incorporate sward density, offering higher measurement frequency and potential for heterogeneous pasture assessment.

Funding for the project comes from the European Innovation Partnerships (EIP Agri) in Schleswig‑Holstein, underscoring its relevance for sustainable agricultural practices.

Haozhe Li, Moritz Gerwin, Floris Ernst, Volker Saggau, Friederike Fenger

More info at https://wissenschaftstagung.de/wp-content/uploads/WITA_2026_Tagungsband_protected.pdf