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Robots to Help Farmers

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the now-on-to-the-soylent-green-harvesters dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Robots designed to help farmers have been built before, but this time, engineers from the University of Warwick have chosen to develop robots that will reduce farm labor costs. In recent months, they've built a robotic mushroom picker, an inflatable conveyor belt and a grass cutting robot that might also be used by golf course owners."

2 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. There's not much left for the robots to do by Phat_Tony · · Score: 3, Informative
    In most modern American agribusiness, there's not much left for robots to do. Tilling, planting, harvesting, and all aspects of milling the final product are already mechanized. Even driving the tractor/combine is automated in many cases now- combines and such are often piloted by GPS.

    It's true there are still labor-intensive things like fruit picking where advanced robots may one day replace illegal immigrants, but a lot of agriculture already takes place with a bare minimum of human involvement to farm hundreds of thousands of acres of prime crops like corn, wheat, and soybeans.

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  2. Re:Will this be like Hybrid cars? by clockmaker · · Score: 3, Informative

    Wrong. You should see the prices on tractors these days. Some of the larger ones are USD$250,000 or more. They come with options like LAAS GPS, radar, and laser-guided leveling to keep the rows straight and evenly spaced. The cabs are outfitted with laptops with wifi so the farmers can contact suppliers/buyers instantly as needed. There is big money in farm equipment, and the stereotype of the country bumpkin farmer is plain false. And don't forget, in the US, farming is moving to large "factory" corporate farms. Some of the equipment is already very close to "robotic."