Every day, without human intervention, Pheno’R measures hundreds of potted plants: mass, water use, height, 3D shape, temperature, spectral signature and chlorophyll fluorescence.
Optimalog designed and built the complete machine for the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (URCA): 3D design, mechanical assembly, electrical work and wiring, software, installation. It was delivered in July 2026.
How it works
Two gantries share the work, above and below the plants:
- the lower gantry lifts each pot from below, weighs it and reads its identification code;
- the upper gantry carries the watering system, cameras, laser profilometer, hyperspectral cameras and fluorometer.
The two gantries work in parallel: while one plant is being weighed, another is being photographed.
Key figures
- up to 480 pots depending on trays and pot size, 720 with higher-density trays;
- 10 locations, up to 3 stacked trays per location;
- 7 onboard measuring instruments;
- 12 types of schedulable cycles, up to 5 times a day;
- web supervision, with nothing to install.
A measurement campaign, made simple
- The researcher declares the experiment and plants from a web browser.
- They schedule jobs such as “weigh every plant at 8 a.m. each morning”, “bring each pot back to 250 g”, “photograph location 3 once a day”.
- The machine runs them, records each measurement and calculates the indicators: water consumed, evapotranspiration, growth.
Nothing to program: the supervision interface is used to describe and consult, the controller decides and acts.
What Pheno’R measures
- Weighing and mass-controlled watering
- Pot identification by Data Matrix code
- Colour and thermal imaging
- 3D shape and height by laser profilometry
- VNIR and SWIR hyperspectral imaging
- Chlorophyll fluorescence
- Photogrammetry
Measurements and instruments · Web supervision · Data and analysis
Optima PLC in control
Pheno’R’s automation runs on a PC with Optima PLC, our IEC 61131-3 soft PLC. It drives the axes over EtherCAT, orchestrates the instruments, manages operating modes and safety, and communicates in real time with the web supervision.
Safety
Closed enclosure, monitored door, three emergency stops, safety module and Safe Torque Off (STO) on the motors. Before each restart, the operator certifies in the supervision interface, under their own name, that nobody is inside the enclosure.
A custom machine that can be adapted
Pheno’R is a custom-built machine. We can build a variant adapted to your plants, your instruments and your growth chamber: dimensions, number of pots, choice of sensors.
Pheno’R follows in the footsteps of Phenopsis andHeliaphen, in service at INRAE and Bayer CropScience. Have a phenotyping project? Let’s talk.