More about Insightful Innovators<\/summary> The ‘Insightful Innovators’ series is an initiative of 4TU.Federation<\/a> and Innovation Origins<\/a>. This is where you can read the stories behind entrepreneurial students at the four Dutch technical universities and their ambition to make the world a bit more beautiful. They are the driving force behind innovation in the Netherlands.
Read the other stories in this series here<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/details>\n\n\n\nTomato cultivation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Growers and crop specialists at horticultural companies are signing up for Corvus Drones’ drone services. The grower sets out the flight route in a web application, links a task to it, places the drone on the docking station in the greenhouse and presses start. The drone then flies over or between the crops, takes pictures and the software then translates the images into useful information. \u201cDrone navigation is done entirely by sight,” Dechering points out. “Because of the steel construction of the greenhouse, GPS signals are too weak and not usable. This is why the drone has cameras that can look around so that the drone can find its way around the greenhouse.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flight route<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The drones from Corvus Drones accurately predict harvests. Dechering: \u201cThey see three or four weeks ahead how much yield a grower is likely to have. We are in the process of developing the application now. We aim to introduce our service to the market in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The start-up also works with breeders in the ornamental plant world. \u201cGlobal companies that are developing new plant varieties. Seed production is incredibly labor intensive. Employees count the flowers to be able to predict how much seed a grower will have in a few weeks and how many people they need to employ to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Growers and crop specialists at horticultural companies are signing up for Corvus Drones\u2019 drone services. The grower sets out the flight route in a web application, links a task to it, places the drone on the docking station in the greenhouse and presses start. The drone then flies over or between the crops, takes pictures and the software then translates the images into useful information. \u201cDrone navigation is done entirely by sight,\u201d Dechering points out. \u201cBecause of the steel construction of the greenhouse, GPS signals are too weak and not usable. This is why the drone has cameras that can look around so that the drone can find its way around the greenhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
International<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Corvus Drones remains the owner of the drones. If a drone breaks down, the grower sends it back. \u201cWe repair it. But more importantly, we take back every drone. We reuse, refurbish, recycle and upcycle as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In March, Corvus Drones sold its first drone. The company now has almost 20 customers. \u201cDeliberately a select group, because you always have teething problems in such an early stage. We want to get those out before we venture out all over the world.\u201d Right now its customers are in the Netherlands, Belgium, America, Germany, France and England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year, Corvus Drones won the Green House Challenge<\/a> held by the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). \u201cThe object was to count the number of tomatoes, identify the color and spot any diseases. The award was a recognition of the fact that our autonomous drone works.\u201d In this competition, the start-up beat out 10 international teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Founders](\"https:\/\/archive.ioplus.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Founders-voor-kas-1004x669.jpg\")
Frans-Peter Dechering (l) Gerhold ten Voorde \u00a9 Corvus Drones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThink bigger<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
For Dechering, the Slush start-up event was unfamiliar territory. The start-up was invited to attend by Wageningen University & Research (WUR). Partner Gerhold ten Voorde started the company in 2019. He had also taken part in the WUR accelerator program Start-Life. Dechering joined in 2020. A perfect combination, according to Dechering. \u201cGerhold as a younger techie and me as an experienced entrepreneur. I handle everything related to customers and money. Gerhold focuses on the technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dechering and Ten Voorde rally people around them who dare to challenge them. Such as professionals from Startlife<\/a>, and a horticultural luminary. \u201cThey are the ones who show us that we are too modest. They are constantly challenging us to think bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nCorvus Drones recently completed a seed round. \u201cOur confidence is growing, we are raising the bar higher and higher,\u201d he states. The company is growing faster than anticipated. \u201cWe want to grow to 25 to 30 people and we already have about 15 employees,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a>![](\"https:\/\/media.innovationorigins.com\/2022\/11\/MRR02.jpeg\")
<\/div><\/div>From quad to autonomous drone for industry: Elferink\u2019s dream comes true – Innovation Origins<\/div>Start-up MultiRotorResearch is developing a drone that flies autonomously with the help of end-to-end AI. Founder Sieuwe Elferink explains what that entails and how his dream is becoming a reality.<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\nBar of soap<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Attending Slush meant an opportunity for the start-up to seek new forms of funding and establish contact with new investors. More than anything, the event was good for spending time with his associate, Dechering comments after the visit. Corvus Drones was part of the Dutch 4TU delegation. \u201cWe got some great insights into the importance of a good national start-up environment and approach. Unfortunately, the matchmaking with investors was a bit disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dechering thoroughly enjoys his work and the people he works with. \u201cWe have a super cool team. More than half of our people also make drones in their spare time. We also have a table soccer competition. A nice story is that one of our product engineers went to France to work on an implementation. He insisted on being back by five o\u2019clock on Friday afternoon so he could still play in the soccer competition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main challenge for Dechering is to \u201csell the drone as if you are selling a bar of soap.\u201d \u201cWe are not selling technology, but a service. All a customer has to do, so to speak, is just log in and press the start button. We want to make that as simple as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a>![](\"https:\/\/media.innovationorigins.com\/2022\/04\/Screenshot-2021-09-04-16.41.27.png\")
<\/div><\/div>How are robots doing in greenhouse horticulture? – Innovation Origins<\/div>In October 2020, I wrote the following in my closing column on The Robots Are Coming.<\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An autonomous drone as eyes in a greenhouse – a drone that measures the way crops are growing. From seed germination to leaf development and from the flowering stage to the diameter of the potted plant. That is what start-up Corvus Drones from the Dutch town of Ede develops and manufactures. “Our dream is that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1591,"featured_media":515896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"views\/single-partner.blade.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[39555,67991,43513,75128,27038],"location":[6763],"article_type":[6758],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[],"class_list":["post-428917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability-nl","tag-4tu-en","tag-insightful-innovators","tag-slush-nl","tag-start-life","tag-wur-nl","location-netherlands","article_type-interview"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"Start-up Corvus Drones develops autonomous drones that measure the growth and health of crops. Cameras form the eyes that accurately measure growth, among other things.","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Corine Spaans","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/corine-spaans\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/IMG_8036-webapp3-best.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Sustainability<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Sustainability<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["4TU<\/a>","Insightful Innovators<\/a>","Slush<\/a>","Start-Life<\/a>","WUR<\/a>"],"unlinked":["4TU<\/span>","Insightful Innovators<\/span>","Slush<\/span>","Start-Life<\/span>","WUR<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on December 16, 2022","modified":"Updated on December 16, 2022"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on December 16, 2022 9:59 am","modified":"Updated on December 16, 2022 9:59 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1591"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428917"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=428917"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=428917"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=428917"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=428917"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=428917"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=428917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The ‘Insightful Innovators’ series is an initiative of 4TU.Federation<\/a> and Innovation Origins<\/a>. This is where you can read the stories behind entrepreneurial students at the four Dutch technical universities and their ambition to make the world a bit more beautiful. They are the driving force behind innovation in the Netherlands. Growers and crop specialists at horticultural companies are signing up for Corvus Drones’ drone services. The grower sets out the flight route in a web application, links a task to it, places the drone on the docking station in the greenhouse and presses start. The drone then flies over or between the crops, takes pictures and the software then translates the images into useful information. \u201cDrone navigation is done entirely by sight,” Dechering points out. “Because of the steel construction of the greenhouse, GPS signals are too weak and not usable. This is why the drone has cameras that can look around so that the drone can find its way around the greenhouse.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The drones from Corvus Drones accurately predict harvests. Dechering: \u201cThey see three or four weeks ahead how much yield a grower is likely to have. We are in the process of developing the application now. We aim to introduce our service to the market in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The start-up also works with breeders in the ornamental plant world. \u201cGlobal companies that are developing new plant varieties. Seed production is incredibly labor intensive. Employees count the flowers to be able to predict how much seed a grower will have in a few weeks and how many people they need to employ to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Growers and crop specialists at horticultural companies are signing up for Corvus Drones\u2019 drone services. The grower sets out the flight route in a web application, links a task to it, places the drone on the docking station in the greenhouse and presses start. The drone then flies over or between the crops, takes pictures and the software then translates the images into useful information. \u201cDrone navigation is done entirely by sight,\u201d Dechering points out. \u201cBecause of the steel construction of the greenhouse, GPS signals are too weak and not usable. This is why the drone has cameras that can look around so that the drone can find its way around the greenhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corvus Drones remains the owner of the drones. If a drone breaks down, the grower sends it back. \u201cWe repair it. But more importantly, we take back every drone. We reuse, refurbish, recycle and upcycle as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In March, Corvus Drones sold its first drone. The company now has almost 20 customers. \u201cDeliberately a select group, because you always have teething problems in such an early stage. We want to get those out before we venture out all over the world.\u201d Right now its customers are in the Netherlands, Belgium, America, Germany, France and England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This year, Corvus Drones won the Green House Challenge<\/a> held by the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). \u201cThe object was to count the number of tomatoes, identify the color and spot any diseases. The award was a recognition of the fact that our autonomous drone works.\u201d In this competition, the start-up beat out 10 international teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Dechering, the Slush start-up event was unfamiliar territory. The start-up was invited to attend by Wageningen University & Research (WUR). Partner Gerhold ten Voorde started the company in 2019. He had also taken part in the WUR accelerator program Start-Life. Dechering joined in 2020. A perfect combination, according to Dechering. \u201cGerhold as a younger techie and me as an experienced entrepreneur. I handle everything related to customers and money. Gerhold focuses on the technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dechering and Ten Voorde rally people around them who dare to challenge them. Such as professionals from Startlife<\/a>, and a horticultural luminary. \u201cThey are the ones who show us that we are too modest. They are constantly challenging us to think bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corvus Drones recently completed a seed round. \u201cOur confidence is growing, we are raising the bar higher and higher,\u201d he states. The company is growing faster than anticipated. \u201cWe want to grow to 25 to 30 people and we already have about 15 employees,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n\n\n Attending Slush meant an opportunity for the start-up to seek new forms of funding and establish contact with new investors. More than anything, the event was good for spending time with his associate, Dechering comments after the visit. Corvus Drones was part of the Dutch 4TU delegation. \u201cWe got some great insights into the importance of a good national start-up environment and approach. Unfortunately, the matchmaking with investors was a bit disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dechering thoroughly enjoys his work and the people he works with. \u201cWe have a super cool team. More than half of our people also make drones in their spare time. We also have a table soccer competition. A nice story is that one of our product engineers went to France to work on an implementation. He insisted on being back by five o\u2019clock on Friday afternoon so he could still play in the soccer competition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The main challenge for Dechering is to \u201csell the drone as if you are selling a bar of soap.\u201d \u201cWe are not selling technology, but a service. All a customer has to do, so to speak, is just log in and press the start button. We want to make that as simple as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n An autonomous drone as eyes in a greenhouse – a drone that measures the way crops are growing. From seed germination to leaf development and from the flowering stage to the diameter of the potted plant. That is what start-up Corvus Drones from the Dutch town of Ede develops and manufactures. “Our dream is that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1591,"featured_media":515896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"views\/single-partner.blade.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[39555,67991,43513,75128,27038],"location":[6763],"article_type":[6758],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[],"class_list":["post-428917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability-nl","tag-4tu-en","tag-insightful-innovators","tag-slush-nl","tag-start-life","tag-wur-nl","location-netherlands","article_type-interview"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"Start-up Corvus Drones develops autonomous drones that measure the growth and health of crops. Cameras form the eyes that accurately measure growth, among other things.","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Corine Spaans","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/corine-spaans\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/IMG_8036-webapp3-best.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Sustainability<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Sustainability<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["4TU<\/a>","Insightful Innovators<\/a>","Slush<\/a>","Start-Life<\/a>","WUR<\/a>"],"unlinked":["4TU<\/span>","Insightful Innovators<\/span>","Slush<\/span>","Start-Life<\/span>","WUR<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on December 16, 2022","modified":"Updated on December 16, 2022"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on December 16, 2022 9:59 am","modified":"Updated on December 16, 2022 9:59 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1591"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428917"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=428917"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=428917"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=428917"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=428917"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=428917"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=428917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Read the other stories in this series here<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/details>\n\n\n\nTomato cultivation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Flight route<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
International<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Think bigger<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/div><\/div>Bar of soap<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/div><\/div>