Robohub.org
 

Size counts


by
16 September 2007



share this:

Just as you don’t really need a machine with six foot tall tires to prepare a seedbed, you don’t necessarily need a machine suspended from a gantry or with legs long enough to lift it above corn tassels to deal with small stuff at ground level. Sometimes it would be nice to have something smaller, a lot smaller, slithering along among the stalks, beneath the leaves.

 

Maybe it moves on little wheels, maybe like a snake, maybe like a centipede. Maybe it has low-set, horizontal snips in place of a mouth, as for shearing off crabgrass every time it grows back. Maybe it uses its tail like an ovipositor, to plant seeds. Maybe it produces a loud hiss to scare off hungry rabbits and deer.

 

Probably it would keep tabs on soil moisture and possess an array of chemical sensitivities for detecting various soil conditions, like whether anaerobic decomposition is happening near the surface.

 

Such a device might also apply dusts or mists to the underside of leaves, for example to control fungal growth with a light application of copper salts, or caterpillars with spores of a particular strain of bacteria.

 

Whatever the details, there’s a place for smaller devices, representing considerably smaller investments, in a mix of machines that collaborate to manage productive land.

 

Reposted from Cultibotics.



tags: ,


John Payne





Related posts :



Robot Talk Episode 126 – Why are we building humanoid robots?

  20 Jun 2025
In this special live recording at Imperial College London, Claire chatted to Ben Russell, Maryam Banitalebi Dehkordi, and Petar Kormushev about humanoid robotics.

Gearing up for RoboCupJunior: Interview with Ana Patrícia Magalhães

and   18 Jun 2025
We hear from the organiser of RoboCupJunior 2025 and find out how the preparations are going for the event.

Robot Talk Episode 125 – Chatting with robots, with Gabriel Skantze

  13 Jun 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Gabriel Skantze from KTH Royal Institute of Technology about having natural face-to-face conversations with robots.

Preparing for kick-off at RoboCup2025: an interview with General Chair Marco Simões

and   12 Jun 2025
We caught up with Marco to find out what exciting events are in store at this year's RoboCup.

Interview with Amar Halilovic: Explainable AI for robotics

  10 Jun 2025
Find out about Amar's research investigating the generation of explanations for robot actions.

Robot Talk Episode 124 – Robots in the performing arts, with Amy LaViers

  06 Jun 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Amy LaViers from the Robotics, Automation, and Dance Lab about the creative relationship between humans and machines.

Robot Talk Episode 123 – Standardising robot programming, with Nick Thompson

  30 May 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Nick Thompson from BOW about software that makes robots easier to program.

Congratulations to the #AAMAS2025 best paper, best demo, and distinguished dissertation award winners

  29 May 2025
Find out who won the awards presented at the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems last week.



 

Robohub is supported by:




Would you like to learn how to tell impactful stories about your robot or AI system?


scicomm
training the next generation of science communicators in robotics & AI


©2025.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence


 












©2025.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence