Operator e-learning
One. This e-learning, on your own, at your own pace. Stop and come back whenever you like.
Two. A live session in your greenhouse: a Robur colleague, the real machine, and your hands on the tablet.
Three. Only then do you operate the robot on your own.
Watch for these along the way: 🎥 video walkthrough · 🧠 quiz, click an answer and see why · ⚠️ safety-critical · 🏠 done together in the greenhouse.
Part 01
Two robots, one job. Before you touch a button: know which of the two you are talking to.
01
The transporter. Drives along the main path, carries the Advanced and docks onto a trellis. Also known as the transfer carriage (VPW).
02
The worker. Drives into the trellis, carries the boom, sets height, angle and nozzles.
The Navigator moves along the main path and stops at a trellis index — the same number your greenhouse crew already uses for that row.
It docks onto a trellis by pushing the plungers out and inserting them into the trellis tubes. The two sides are labelled side 1 and side 2 on screen.
Docking is also how the Advanced learns where it is: after docking, the Navigator hands the trellis information over to it.
The Navigator only moves when the plungers are fully retracted and the Advanced is detected on board.
The Advanced drives forward and backward inside the trellis — Y+ and Y− on the tablet — and raises or lowers the boom with Z+ and Z−.
It selects the spray lance, and the sections or nozzles on that lance. If angle adjustment is fitted, it also sets the spray angle.
Injection and auxiliary systems run from here too.
On the Navigator it deliberately moves slowly — safer that way.
Inside a trellis, boom at working height, taken from the path end so the row disappears into the distance.
Docking is not just parking. It is how the Advanced learns which trellis it is in and how long that trellis is — and that is what lets it drive at full speed and know where the recipe ends.
⚠️ BEFORE THE NAVIGATOR MOVES
Miss either one and you get notification 5105 or 5104 instead of movement.
Half or fully automatic? On a fully automatic machine (Advanced + Navigator) docking answers the "which trellis?" question for you, and you simply pick a batch. On a half-automatic machine (an Advanced only) there is no Navigator to tell it, so the tablet asks you to select the trellis yourself.
Speed, height, cycle type, which lance and which nozzles, skip distance, injection, outputs, spray angle.
Written once, used all season. Recipes are shared between the Advanced and the Navigator.
Which recipe runs in which trellis, how many recipes per trellis, and the order the Navigator works through them.
Batches live on the Navigator only — you need a Navigator to move between trellises.
One sentence to remember. The recipe is the job; the batch is the route. Change the job, edit the recipe. Change where or when, edit the batch.
You drive. Each movement is a button you press or hold, and the robot stops the moment you let go. Switching to manual takes you straight to the manual control page.
The recipe drives. The robot holds speed and height, switches outputs at the configured points and reports progress. Switching to automatic takes you back to the home page, where recipes and batches are started.
The mode switch sits at the bottom of the navigation bar. The page you land on tells you which mode you are in.
You want to spray trellises 4, 5 and 6 tonight, all three with the same settings, starting from the far end. What do you create?
A Three recipes, one per trellisNo — a recipe does not care which trellis it runs in. Three identical recipes is three times the maintenance.
B One recipe, and one batch that uses it three timesCorrect. The recipe holds the spray settings; the batch puts it on trellises 4, 5 and 6, and the Order tab decides you start at the far end.
C One batch, no recipeNo — a batch is only a list of tasks. Without a recipe there is nothing for the robot to do in the trellis.
Part 02
The shortest part of this e-learning, and the most important one.
The abort button stops the software. The red emergency cord stops the machine. In an emergency you pull the cord. Always, every time.
Abort sits in the page header and works from any state. It is the right tool for this run is going wrong. It is the wrong tool for someone is in the way.
Learn where the cords are on both machines before you start work — not while something is happening. Walk the machine once and check where they are.
Pulling the cord has a second, friendlier use: at the end of the day it puts the system into power saving.
A close-up per cord on the Navigator and on the Advanced, with an arrow on it, plus one wide shot.
Stopping is not a failure. If you are not sure, stop the robot and start again.
Runs the system: start, pause, stop, monitor, drive manually, read notifications. The right level for daily work — and it deliberately cannot change anything that could ruin a night's spraying.
Everything above, plus creating, editing and deleting recipes and batches, and the full settings menu.
Log in as admin only when you need to change something, and log out afterwards. The page header shows who is logged in.
Mid-batch, you see a colleague walk into the trellis the Advanced is working in. What do you do?
A Press Pause on the tabletNo. Pause goes through the software and waits for the robot to come to a controlled stop. That is the wrong mechanism when a person is in the danger zone.
B Press AbortNo. Abort is still software, and it is not an emergency stop.
C Pull the emergency cordCorrect. The cord — on the Navigator or on the Advanced, either one works — is the only thing that stops both robots for certain. A batch can always be restarted.
Part 03
The HMI is the robot's steering wheel. You are the driver.
The navigation bar is named after the machine you are on: on a Navigator the home page reads Navigator, manual control reads Navigator control, and the bottom entry reads Advanced because that is where it takes you. If you cannot find Batches, you are looking at an Advanced.
Reset moves the machine. If the height is not yet calibrated, pressing Reset sends the boom to its highest position to calibrate it. Expect that, and make sure nothing and nobody is above the boom.
The page header also shows who is logged in and the battery percentage. Buttons appear and disappear with the robot's state: greyed out is information — it means the robot is not in the state you think it is.
The badge bottom-left takes the colour of the highest active level — two infos and one error still reads as an error. The status bar sits at the top of the main content and is always visible, so you never have to open a menu to find out the system is unhappy.
Part 04
Three tabs — Progress, Run, Status — the autopilot
Your greenhouse, drawn as two sides: side 1 on the left with L1, L2, L3 and side 2 on the right with R1, R2, R3. The trellis index runs down the middle, and the icon on the active index is the Navigator itself — the blue edge shows which side it is docked on.
Only the trellis it is in right now, because that is the only trellis it knows anything about. The marker inside is the Advanced's own position. Tap the trellis to see which recipe is running.
Picture looks empty? Then ask yourself whether the Navigator is really docked. No docking, no trellis information, nothing to draw.
Trellis colours: active, still to run · completed · warning during execution · error during execution · no recipe configured
On an Advanced you build a recipe queue: the pencil opens it for editing, + adds a recipe, the drag handles set the order, the small pencil per row opens compartment control and the bin removes a row.
Press Configure to send it to the robot. Then press the start button. A pop-up confirms it, and the job appears under Progress.
On a Navigator it works much the same way: choose a batch from the list and press Configure to send it to the robot. Then press the start button. A pop-up confirms it, and the job appears under Progress.
Advanced: driving, height, current status, spraying, injection, UVC, reel, machine.
Navigator: driving, docking, current status, reel, outputs, machine.
Open Status when something is wrong. Positions, sensors and states are all here, and a good half of all service questions are answered by this screen.
Notifications first, always. Starting a batch on top of an unresolved warning is how a five-minute problem becomes a wasted night.
Watch the first two compartments before you walk away. If speed, height or nozzles are wrong, that is where you will see it — while it is still cheap to fix.
Part 05
The how and the where. This is the part where you really start planning
Name — a name for the recipe that your team will recognise.
Speed, height, cycle type, and everything the spray or UV system does.
03
Where the boom points on the way out, at the turn, and on the way back.
A recipe has a forward and a backward cycle. New recipes keep the two linked — same settings both ways. Unlink them with the link toggle and a second menu appears, so the way back can differ from the way out.
Recipes are shared between the Advanced and the Navigator, and creating or editing them needs an admin login. Setting the cycle type to UVC swaps the spray settings for slider and light distances. If installed
A tilted boom reaches further along the row, so the start and end positions move with the angle.
You set five things: the angle at the start, going forward, at the turn, coming backward, and the turn time the boom waits at the turn angle before switching back.
Only with angle adjustment
A recipe sprays beautifully on the way out, but you want it to drive back faster without spraying. What do you do?
A Create a second recipe and add it to the batchIt would work, but it is more than you need — and now you have two recipes to keep in step.
B Unlink the forward and backward cycles, then set the backward cycle separatelyCorrect. Recipes start with the two cycles linked; unlinking gives you a second settings menu for the way back.
C Create 2 recipes 1 for forward and 1 for backward.
A batch is a list of tasks: which recipe runs in which trellis, and the order the Navigator works through them. One trellis can carry several recipes, one after another.
Batches exist only on the Navigator, because only the Navigator moves between trellises. Creating and editing them needs admin rights.
Each recipe you assign shows up as a name tag on the trellis.
The bin is not the opposite of the plus. With several trellises selected, + adds one recipe to each — but the bin removes every recipe from all of them. Check your selection before you press it.
Order decides how the robot works its way along the trellises. By side goes clockwise or anticlockwise from a chosen start trellis; by index follows the trellis index numbers.
A scheduled batch starts without you. Switch Schedule on and it begins at the set time whether or not anyone is in the greenhouse. Only schedule when the machine is definitely clear, charged (and off the charger) and where it should be.
Compartment control decides which compartments inside a trellis actually get treated — and, if the hardware allows it, which sections or nozzles are active in each one.
Leave it alone and the recipe runs on every compartment, with the nozzles the recipe specifies.
Reach for it when only part of the trellis needs spraying.
Stored per recipe, per trellis. Two trellises in the same batch can run the same recipe with completely different compartments active.
Compartments are drawn across the trellis, each with two selectable halves: one for the forward cycle, one for the backward cycle. So the way out and the way back can differ.
Click a compartment to switch it on or off, or click and drag across several. On means the recipe runs there; off means the robot drives past.
The copy and paste icons above each compartment are the real time-saver: set one compartment up exactly right, then paste it across the rest.
Select spray state, top right — four buttons:
Section and nozzle rows appear down both sides if your machine has them. Hardware dependent
You switch off the first three compartments of a trellis in the forward cycle only. What does the robot do?
A Skips those compartments on the way out and treats them on the way backCorrect. Every compartment has a separate forward and backward half, and that is exactly what makes this possible.
B Skips them in both directionsNo — that would need them switched off in the backward cycle too. That is what the ◀▶ button is for, when you do want both.
C Drives past them entirely and shortens the trellisNo. The robot still drives the full trellis and still keeps to the batch order; it just does less work in some places.
Part 06
This is where you drive. Read this part twice — then practise it in the greenhouse, with your instructor beside you.
The robot must be in manual mode — the mode switch at the bottom of the navigation bar. Only trained users operate manual control. Look along the full path first, every time.
Toggle buttons stay on once you press them. Hold buttons only run while your finger is down.
The tablet is helping you. The robot stops by itself if the Wi-Fi connection drops — that is a safety feature
Pick the lance with the Select lance tiles and its sections or nozzles appear in the diagram, where you can switch them individually.
Toggle sections — Off, On or Custom — does the whole lance at once, which is what you want for flushing.
The main valve and lance valve open automatically when you activate a section.
Spray angle control is a three-way choice: −45°, 0° or 45°. The boom starts turning as soon as you choose, and stops itself when the angle is reached. If installed
Each injection system has three modes: Off, Mixer — mixing motor only — and Injection, which also opens the injection valve.
Set the reel type — None, Water or Electric. The arrow pointing into the cube reels in, pointing out reels off. Both are hold buttons: release and it stops.
Everything greyed out? Read the line under Driving: "retract all plungers fully before driving is unlocked." The Navigator will not move until the plungers are fully retracted and the Advanced is detected on board.
Choose the side with Select dock side — None, side 1, side 2 or Both. Then hold the outward-arrow button to push the plungers out, and release once it is docked. The inward arrows retract them again.
Each plunger shows two indicators:
You want both green on the side you are going to work on. If you are running a single recipe while docked on both sides, you get error 5108 — undock and re-dock one side
The crosshair button is Dock to trellis: choose a trellis in Select trellis and hold the button to dock automatically. Let go and it stops. 📷 Photo slot — a three-shot manual docking sequence: approach, plungers out, both indicators green.
Part 07
The robot tells you what is wrong. Reading the notifications properly is what helps you get it moving again.
Click one of the notification icons in the bottom-left corner. Two tabs: Current for what is active now, History for everything that has happened.
Each row gives type, timestamp, code and message; any column header sorts the table.
Download the filtered history before you call service. It saves ten minutes of "and what did it say exactly?"
Step 4 is the whole job. Pressing Reset on an unresolved fault just means reading the same notification again four minutes later.
Software faults, plunger and reflector faults, height sensing, UV lights, driving, reel and magnet errors and IO modules all need service. Have the code, the message and the downloaded history ready.
When you report a fault. "Every run in trellis 7" is worth far more than "it is broken again", so note where and when, and what goes wrong
Your SOP has the full table of around sixty codes. These six cover almost everything you will actually meet.
The status bar is red, the system is aborted, and the notification reads 5105 — trying to move with plungers not fully retracted. What order do you work in?
A Reset → Start → retract the plungers if it happens againNo. Pressing Reset before the cause is gone gets you the same notification a few minutes later.
B Reset → Retract the plungers → check the notification has cleared → StartCorrect. Cause first, always. And before pressing Reset, check that nothing is above the boom — an uncalibrated height sends it to the top.
C Power cycle the robot with the red switchToo big a hammer, too early. Power cycling comes after resolving the cause and rebooting from Settings.
The settings you will actually touch: Language, the default manual speed and homing speed, and on a Navigator the production speed used in automatic. Speed and distance units are set here too, which is why one machine shows m/min and another km/h.
Reboot restarts the robot; on a Navigator you can reboot the host or the worker. System locking blocks the robot — use it when the Advanced is decoupled from the Navigator, so nobody drives it by accident.
For a new admin password, swipe the slider to the right first, then fill in the current and the new password. Minimum 8 characters.
The charger is not optional after a 4002. A battery-low warning at the end of a shift means the next shift starts with a battery-critical notification — unless somebody plugs it in.
There are no trick questions. If you can explain these in your own words, you understood this e-learning.
Manual mode — drive the Navigator to a trellis and dock it by hand; drive the Advanced into the trellis with an adjusted height and angle and back onto the Navigator.
One recipe — create it, configure it, run it, and confirm completion in the notifications.
Run a full batch — across several trellises, with compartment control on one of the recipes.
Watched throughout: did you check the notifications before starting, and did you look down the trellis before every movement?
Service is available during business hours — have the error code, the message and the downloaded notification history ready. Until your live session, the SOP on the tablet is the reference book for everything in this e-learning.