Crover is a start-up company based at the Bayes Centre on the Campus of the University of Edinburgh. Crover’s activity is centred on the commercialisation of their proprietary robotic probe technology for the monitoring of cereal grains stored in bulk sheds or silos. The technology helps grain-storekeepers identify critical conditions early in the storage cycle and enables others in the supply chain to manage the quality of their stock.
As part of their development programme, Crover needed to quantify the interaction between the robot and the grains being analysed, as well as ensuring compliance with the applicable regulatory requirements and standards. This presented a range of challenges as there were no similar devices for which compliance with European or UK standards has previously been granted. M4R and the team at NPL were able to provide the solution.
NPL’s digital manufacturing team were able to advise on the standards and certification process applicable to the Crover robot. Through the M4R programme Crover was able to access the support of experts within the NPL tribology team who developed new test methods to measure interaction between the grains and Crover’s robot surface, overcoming the challenges arising from the varied distribution of grain shapes and sizes.
