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Hi-Tech Weed-Killer

Posted by michael on from the terminator-0.1 dept.

Makarand writes "Instead of making improvements to automatic mechanical weeders, Engineers at UC Davis have been busy developing the next generation robotic weeder which will use computerized images of crop rows to identify weeds and zap them. The system can identify weeds from the regular crop by assessing shape, color, size and other variables from the captured images of the crop row. A robotic cultivator will then blast weeds with a weedkiller using syringes mounted on a tractor. A GPS allows the system to calculate weed type densities within the field and the amounts of chemicals dispensed in the area."

8 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Wow, what will they think of next... by fpp · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...a robot that mows the lawn?

  2. Weed killer? by BortQ · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'll bet the DEA is super happy about this.

    --

    A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
  3. Crop rows? by pphrdza · · Score: 5, Funny
    You've got to have your plants in rows for it to recognize them?

    Guess that eliminates my garden...

  4. Evolution by xMonkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    You know virtually all systems have bugs in them.

    I wonder how long until the weeds find the exploits.

    --
    Now I've seen Everything
  5. Benchmark by zaibutsu · · Score: 5, Funny

    I remember working for a company which was trying to sell computer hardware to an organisation developing a system like this.

    The system had a plant recognition benchmark we had to run. It was calibrated in 'cabbages per second'.

  6. I question the demographics... by djh101010 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Around here (midwestern USA), the farmers are reluctant to try even the most basic of new things (no-till farming, organics, etc). I'm having a hard time imagining any of the farmers that I know shelling out a couple of grand on a robot with a camera, to run up & down the fields.

    Then again, if they can show how the cost is offset by gains in yields, then it just might get some use. Another concern is battery life - just how far is this thing going to go on a charge? 1 mile? That'll cover 4 rows...then what?

    1. Re:I question the demographics... by Osty · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Around here (midwestern USA), the farmers are reluctant to try even the most basic of new things (no-till farming, organics, etc). I'm having a hard time imagining any of the farmers that I know shelling out a couple of grand on a robot with a camera, to run up & down the fields.

      You must not be very in touch with your local farming community. Most farmers are quite willing to try new things. For example, my own father (independent Midwest family farmer, works some 2000 acres with my older brother) has been doing no-till for over a decade. He's also invested heavily in equipment and software for mapping out yields for each field, and more. However, you have to realize that farming is a business. Everything is about the bottom-line. As such, there's no more money to be made in organic farming (less money, actually), so it's not something he does. Leave that to the hippies and the yuppies that don't mind paying $5.00 for a pint of milk.


      Then again, if they can show how the cost is offset by gains in yields, then it just might get some use.

      This sounds more like a labor-saving device than a yield-increasing device. As such, I doubt you'll be able to show an increase in yield, and certainly not one significant enough to justify this technology. Instead, you should be looking at savings in wages. If the cost (purchase cost plus any ongoing maintenance costs times the expected number of units needed) is less than what it would take to pay minimum wage to some amount of local kids for a few weeks of summer work over the expected lifespan of the robot, then maybe it would be worth doing. On the other hand, it's probably a better idea to just continue hiring kids to walk the fields. Everybody wins -- the kids get money, excercise, and a nice tan, while the farmer gets cheap labor and clear fields, and the community gets something for teenagers to do during the lazy summer days rather than get in trouble. And if you do it right (ie, use hooks to cut out the weeds, rather than herbicide sprays), you won't even damage the environment by introducing herbicides to the food or the ground water. (can you tell I spent most of my summers from around age 8 to age 15 walking fields for my dad?)


      Another concern is battery life - just how far is this thing going to go on a charge? 1 mile? That'll cover 4 rows...then what?

      If they're serious about this technology, it won't be battery driven. It'll be driven by diesel, and probably will be expanded to cover multiple rows at a time. Also, you can't really convert miles into rows. Depending on the geometry of the field, one mile could be two rows, or it could be twenty.


      I do see one potential problem with the technology, though. Since it uses video recognition to determine what's bad and what's not, what happens when a plant is only bad in a certain scenario? For example, corn in a soybean field is considered a weed. This robot should kill it, or the robot will be worthless. However, corn in a corn field is not a weed. If the robot somehow determines that the cornfield is actually a bean field, there goes your entire yield.

  7. weeds aren't the problem, weed killer is. by aethera · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This gives factory farming a new name!
    Why do we get weeds? As they say, Nature abhors a vacuum. So, any tilled space between plantings and rows is enrgy going to waste. Weeds sprout up in this empty space to capture that energy.
    So if you want to control weeds in a manner that doesn't cost (hundreds) of thousands, pollute rivers, stream and groundwater, just keep it simple stupid:
    Plant cover crops in-between and among your primary crop. It could be a harvestable plant, such as pole beans on corn or basil with tomatoes, though this makes harvesting a job for people and not machines. Or plant a companion crop which adds nutrients to the soil. Legumes add nitrates, buckwheat grass makes great compost, just till it under with your next planting. Even better plant flowers and other hebs that attract colonies of beneficial insects that will help control insect populations in your primary crop.
    We got by for a long time without these chemicals. Organic farmers in the US and Bio-dynamic farmers in Europe and harvesting yields that dwarf factory farms, with better flavor and nutrients than conventional produce, and no toxic chemicals.