Robots Fight Weeds in Challenge to Agrochemical Giants

May 22nd, 2018

Via: Reuters:

In a field of sugar beet in Switzerland, a solar-powered robot that looks like a table on wheels scans the rows of crops with its camera, identifies weeds and zaps them with jets of blue liquid from its mechanical tentacles.

Undergoing final tests before the liquid is replaced with weedkiller, the Swiss robot is one of new breed of AI weeders that investors say could disrupt the $100 billion pesticides and seeds industry by reducing the need for universal herbicides and the genetically modified (GM) crops that tolerate them.

Dominated by companies such as Bayer, DowDuPont, BASF and Syngenta, the industry is bracing for the impact of digital agricultural technology and some firms are already adapting their business models.

Posted in Biotechnology, Economy, Food, Rise of the Machines, Technology | Top Of Page

3 Responses to “Robots Fight Weeds in Challenge to Agrochemical Giants”

  1. prov6yahoo says:
    May 22, 2018 at 6:57 am

    Now if they would just use vinegar, salt, and soap mixture to kill the weeds, instead of all those poisons.

  2. Kevin says:
    May 22, 2018 at 8:21 am

    Yeah, or even a little string trimmer. The garden-scale Tertill robot uses that.

    https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tertill-the-solar-powered-weeding-robot#/

  3. Dennis says:
    May 22, 2018 at 6:07 pm

    Yeah, love that Tertill idea.

    This beast kills weed seeds through brute force, no chems:

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-17/australian-farmers-invention-draws-world-interest/8619826

    A couple more:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP7GoNKcTS4

    https://iview.abc.net.au/programs/catalyst/SC1602H014S00

    Better agrobots than aggro-bots 🙂

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