Robots – is this an imminent future? Many in the agricultural sector agree that the industry is moving in the direction of moving more and more types of technics to the rails of robotics. To date, there are already several companies that have made significant progress in creating robotic systems for use in agriculture. Some of them are at the testing stage, while others are already on the market.
While some farmers look closely at the technologies of precision farming and argue about what agriculture will look like in the future, others are already actively using the advanced achievements of science for their own benefit. For some types of ag technics, the sunlight can be used as a power source.
As you can guess from the name, this technology is associated with a visual definition of the presence of plants on the field. The appearance of this development is associated with the technological features of growing salad. Initially, more seeds are sown on the field, so that in case of problems with germination, after all, get the minimum number of seedlings required.
As a result of seeding «with a stock», the inevitable second stage appears – removal of excess sprouts. To obtain a good crop, the distance between plants must be strictly defined. While this work was done manually, a large number of workers were required, and the process was rather slow. Thanks to the use of the robotic system, the process of processing the territory, which was previously serviced by a group of 15 people, is now processed by one tractor driver.
The second technology of the company is an automatic pruner for grapes. Using the video camera, the computer searches for lozes, which should be cropped. Further, the automatic manipulator executes trimming, and the unit continues to move along the vineyard.
Advantage of the solution from Agmechtronix – the ability to work even at night. The principle is similar to Vision Robotics – unit that moves through the field at certain intervals provides a spraying of the herbicide on the ground. This contributes to the correct growth of salad on the treated area. Technology advantages – high productivity, accuracy and less labor compared to manual processing.
Multifunctional robot RIPPA solves the following tasks:
It is possible to install conventional wheels and low-pressure tires, which allows the technics to move around the territory with heavily soiled soil.
There will be an analogy with the sprayer «Vodoley» on the low pressure tires. Due to the pressure on the soil no more than 160 g/cm² «Vodoley» can move around the field with winter crops without damaging them. Increased patency ensures that all work will be performed in full, even if the ground is very wet.
The unique development of Ecorobotix using as an energy source the sunlight, it works «for free». More precisely, it does not require additional energy for its work. The main idea is correct – in the field, during the plant growth season, sunlight is always abundant. Moving around the field, the robot detects weeds and performs their targeted destroying with micro doses of the herbicides. It is likely that in the not too distant future it will be possible to see squads of such (or similar) robots slowly patrolling our fields to protect the harvest.
Naio Technologies produces several different solutions. Miniature robot Oz is designed to work in small farms. Its main task is – loosening of the ground between rows of crops. For what is provided a set of five different instruments:
For farms with large processing areas, a big robot is developed «Dino».
Summarizing, it remains only to be surprised at the pace of development of agricultural machinery. In March 2018, John Deere celebrated 100 years since the first tractor was produced. 15 years ago, the principles of exact farming in the form in which we know them today were adopted. And we can be sure that in the near future we will see the use of robots at all stages of agricultural work – from sowing works to harvesting.
