Weeding Robot
September 17th, 2005
This robot uses infrared cameras and an on-board computer, this robot identifies weeds and removes them without damaging the actual crops. Let’s hope this technology matures quickly so that it becomes more cost-effective than pesticides. It’s being touted as an enabling technology for organic farmers.
Imagine this allowing crops to be grown together, in a more diverse and sustainable way; since the system is vision-based, it could provide the correct care for various crops, and even allow farmers to leave trees in their fields, reducing erosion and soil loss. Much like farming used to be.
Popularity: 3% [?]
September 19th, 2005 at 2:07 pm
In discussing this with a friend and knowledgeable sustainable farmer Josh Viertel, he had these comments to add:
This is cool. I like the idea that is “sees”... Here are a few preliminary critical thoughts (criticism not at all meant to reduce the, whoa, cool factor):
1. it probably costs a lot, and, because of the computer element, still will when it is mass produced.
2. I’d imagine it needs a specialist to repair it.
3. Because crops tend to be planted in rows, even if grown in beds, the need to recognize a weed for a cultivation implement isn’t all that important. The key is the need to effectively kill weeds in a given space while not killing things in the “other” row space, where your crops are…
One key problem is: very good farmers have found that close spacings increase productivity, it is hard to cultivate closely spaced crops with the implements that exist right now.
Another challenge that folks are facing is: cultivation (disturbing soil, in large part to kill weeds) takes very little energy (it is not heavy work for a machine), just about every farm tractor is WAY bigger and more consumptive than it needs to be in order to cultivate well. There is a strong desire for a small cultivating tractor that can straddle a bed (say 30”), cultivate closely space and less closely spaced crops, and run on ELECTRICITY… It would be low, small, and open so that the operator could see the crops beneath him, sort of like a go-cart…
September 19th, 2005 at 10:09 pm
...a pretty neat idea. I’m curious if alternative methods to weeding could be used by the robot. Perhaps lasers? Power consumption and capital cost would be concerns, but mechanical failure and maintenance costs might be lowered. Cool factor, boosted. : )
September 20th, 2005 at 12:25 pm
Or something low-tech but very clever, like the ROOMBA. Could be solar-powered. I see the need for mini-tractors, but also for large-scale organic farming, right? Although a more expensive option could be owned by a farm collective.
August 20th, 2006 at 5:10 pm
[...] Related Posts: Weeding Robot [...]
March 26th, 2007 at 3:26 am
Please let me know more details about the posibility to discriminate weed and crop plants.
gideam@yahoo.com
April 25th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
What template do you use in your site