This need has caused farmers to turn to robotics as a solution for the coming future.
Now you have probably heard of how people across various industries are using robotics to disrupt their respective industries. Customer service, packaging and shipping, manufacturing, and transportation are all industries soon to be hiring more robot employees.
Nevertheless, the growing population, rise of AI and new developments in robotics has caused the world of agriculture robotics to explode with innovation. From nursery planting to shepherding and herding, here are some of the robots already in agriculture. Drones will play a huge role in monitoring large areas of crops.
The term, robotic agriculture, may sound very unreal and people may have different views about it. However, it is a reality and soon it is going to be on every farmer’s lips. In a decade’s time, most young farmers would want a machine like this.
Use a co-bot until the robot is truly autonomous’
Robotic agriculture is a new way for farmers to use their implements without any labour and where the tractor operates on its own. Robotic agriculture is not restricted to tractors, but can be applied for any farming need you have – even down to a machine that can herd your cows.
The younger farmers are expected to invest in more technology with more ardour than the older ones, and new technology should be introduced gradually as it evolves. Farmers and their robots should take time to get used to one another, and it must be kept in mind that robots work at their best in well in constructed environments where they can get used to the way that farms are laid out.
“Most farmers are old population. Some figures say in a decade half of the farmers will retire in Australia. Then there will be no knowledge or skills to produce food.
Already there are thousands of robotic milking parlours installed worldwide. “This industry will grow to $8 billion by 2023,” claim the experts from IDTechEx.
Also there are robots that can follow the crop rows and identify the weeds – this is the next generation. These robots will locate weeds and take the correct action to eliminate them. This will affect suppliers of crop protection chemicals. Farmers will start making use of ultra-precision farming where the farm will be managed on an individual plant basis. Then every plant will get the exact dose of chemicals it needs.
Fresh fruit picking is mostly something that needs to be done by people (labour). This robot really needs to have an arm like a real person to economically and gently pick the fruit without damaging it. It also needs to detect all the fruits. Nothing must be missed.
Farmers have always been diligent data collectors, knowing approximately what each acreage yields or how much milk an individual cow produces. But with the complex data collecting devices of today’s world, agriculture is in the midst of a high-tech revolution—particularly in the area of precision farming.
Farmers can use the same “big data” tools that are integrated into other industries. Things like drones that communicate with satellites to collect data while soaring over a field. The internet of things era means just about anything in our lives can be linked to a WiFi connection and the same applies for farming. For example, Wifi-enabled moisture sensors can help farmers conserve water by only watering parts of the field that need it most. Cow tags can be linked to GPS or even “Fitbit-like” devices to track their vitals remotely. Most machines can be programmed to use machine-learning; for example, fertilizer application equipment can be trained to “see” a field and only spray plants that need a boost, saving farmers product and money.
