People have been establishing farms for population sustainment for more than 10,000 years (give or take a decade or two), and as the population grows so does the need for increased farming. The earth is slowly running out of suitable land that can be used for growing crops, which has forced farmers to think about efficiency rather than more acreage.
"Intensive farming" (low crop rotation through the use of heavy labor and/or chemical fertilizers relative to overall land area) is fast becoming the norm as the method results in increased crops on the same amount of land as traditional farming (subsistence farming). One way to achieve increased efficiency is to employ robotic farmers and automated tools, which never get tired. Not to mention bots achieve a level of precision that can’t be matched by their human counterparts. One of these new agriculture robots achieves efficiency by combing the area inch by inch, seeking the best variety of soil, nutrient wise, that matches the crops.
Click on the image below to see these machines.
Dorhout's Prospero robot farmer looks somewhat like a mechanical spider, crawling and planting various kinds of seed in ideal locations for that particular crop. (Source: Dorhout R&D LLC)
Designed by David Dorhout of Dorhout R&D LLC is an autonomous micro planter that looks somewhat like a mechanical spider, crawling and planting various kinds of seed in ideal locations for that particular crop. The robot is controlled by a Parallax Propeller 8-core micro-controller mounted on a Propeller protoboard, which is housed on Lynxmotion AH3-R hexapod Walker (18 servos with 3-DOF per leg). The robot uses an ultrasonic "ping" system to avoid objects and other obstacles without turning (side-steps rather than turning to traverse a different direction).
Housed under the robot is a sensor array that measures distance, depth, and if a seed has already been planted at that location. The robot is outfitted with a drilling aperture that it uses to dig a hole at a precise depth, after which it deposits the seed, buries it, and then applies (sprays, actually) a fertilizer along with a marking agent that’s used for other robots (and humans) to identify where a seed has been planted. It’s able to accomplish these tasks through specialized "swarm" and game theory programming that also allows the robot to communicate with others of its kind.
Prospero uses LEDs to speak to other robots in the immediate area and uses a green LED to signal it needs assistance with planting in that area or flashes a red LED to signal that the area has already been covered and to move on to a different section of the field (via an IR LED). Imagine a whole field being drilled and seeded by swarms of Prospero robots working around the clock, and the term efficient becomes an understatement. While these spider-like robots are excellent for planting, they’re lacking in irrigation, pest, and weed control, which is where another robot excels.
The Hortibot, created by the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, is a Dvorak ILD 02 slope-mower at its core, featuring a Kawasaki FS 691 V engine (24 HP), outfitted with a series of tools that can benefit several aspects of farming. With a forward-facing camera, it’s able to autonomously traverse rows of crops based on its configuration (columns and other geographic patterns) starting from one corner. Once it reaches the end of one column, it can turn, using a gyro sensor, and drives down the next row until it reaches the end of the field or area.
The size of these do present the question of reliablity in various conditions. This is especially true since crops need to be picked in a relatively short time period. If they are "pickable" (I hesitate to use the word "ripe" since the ripening might take place out of the field), they need to be picked right way rather than waiting for the field to firm up.
I'd really like to see how well it works when covered in mud. Seems to me that the humans (won't mention any particular nationality) will still be needed to go find the mud caked tiny robots that are stuck in the goo out in the fields and deliver them to "technicians" to repair.
The picker robot is a neat item. I would be interested in the approximate cost of such a robot. Low bushy crops like strawberries and pumpkins are difficult to harvest on a large scale. It requires human dexterity to adequately harvest these crops. It would be great to just let a robot loose on the field and wait a few hours to have your crop.
For truely sustainable agriculture to go main stream, robotics are necessary. The small and multi use systems as described in this article are coming much closer to the picture of what will be needed.. given the right data knowledge base, the system of multi robots with multi tools can begin to change the methodoclogy from mono crops to multi crops and also move from chemical remediations to physical remediation on both weeds when needed to be removed to insects and advising farmers when there is an issue.. this large data knowledge base can also help farmers with or without sustainable agriculural machines. The knowledge base can be designed for each area of the world or countries with each plant types and insect types and weather taken into consideration.. Also agricultural methodolgies can be part of the knowledge base educating farmers on how to do sustainable agriculture. Picture small bots sensing a bug.. identifiying it or quering the master farmer data base or the farmer and determing if it is a good bug or bad.. if bad given instructions to eliminate and the bot going and vacuming up the bug and creating more compost.. :D and sending more info to a larger network to be aware of a bug invasion potential into the area.. thanks for the article.. it is fun to see this progress.
I live in rural east central MN among many "smaller" , "family" farming operations. Many people don't realize the level of technology that even the smaller operations utilize. Everything is equipped with sensors and GPS technology.
The concept machines in the slideshow, although interesting, appear to be toys compared to what most farmers use. The more likely scenario is autonomy incorporated into existing style machines to avoid loss of scale.
Good point Mr. Spiegel, wherever people suffer, robots can save the day. Unfortunately, those laborers need that money. It's a catch 22 for sure.
Most industrial farming is fairly automated already. The next step is removing all human intervention. When it's cheap enough to do so, bots will be the only option. Where are all of our elevator operators today? Out-sponged by robots... of sorts.
I understand your ambivalence, Nancy. My guess is that these tools will be used more on corporate farms rather than the family farm. I like the idea that a machine will replace the back-breaking work of migrant workers.
I'm just sitting here trying to wrap my mind around the concept. I am certainly used to technology helping to improve task efficiency in many areas - but robotic workers in farming? I guess it makes sense for large operations, but the small family farms and hobby farms represent a way of life that is irreplaceable. Technology as usual is a mixed blessing...
I think you guys are right – I have some very Hi-Tech farmers in my extended family and from what I've seen, these spider planters would be very cost prohibitive and less than efficient if planting one seed at a time. My guess on cost per spider has got to be at least several thousand dollars. Then, to individually analyze soil on a seed by seed basis ,,,Seems like technology overkill.
Greg, that's a good point. Actually, for grain crops these are not really necessary. Grain farmers have lots of data about their fields from various sources and the equipment is already computer controlled. For example, combines have real time yield monitors. A computer in the cab is fed the data and this is collected on a memory device. Some farmers may process this at home. Many take it to their farm supply dealer and they can then look at detailed maps of fields. In the case of the much talked about drought resistant seed varieties, it would make no sense to plant this all through the farm if there are areas that were not that much affected. That type of seed is more expensive. The machines that dispense fertilizer, herbicide and pesticides are already computer controlled, using the data mentioned above.
We are already at 1% of the population of the US involved in farming. That gets us massive amounts of food to consume here and to export. We are the biggest exporter of food in the world. Where these technologies are useful is for fruit and vegetable crops. I see the robots, coupled with indoor growing environments, as the future of those crrops.
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