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agricultural robotics
The agricultural labor conundrum
Frank Tobe
09 Aug 2017
Instead of worrying so much about robots taking away jobs, maybe we should worry more about wages being too low for robots to even get a chance. Seasonal labor for harvesting agricultural products, p...
What’s slowing the use of robots in the ag industry?
Frank Tobe
11 May 2017
Why are so many farm equipment manufacturers so heavily involved in the ag industry yet things are going so slowly in relation to robotics? Perhaps farmers need to first incorporate the digital era ...
Collaborating machines and avoiding soil compression
John Payne
17 Mar 2017
Soil compression can be a serious problem, but it isn't always, or in all ways, a bad thing. For example, impressions made by hoofed animals, so long as they only cover a minor fraction of the soil s...
Views and forecasts about robotics for the ag industry
Frank Tobe
31 Jan 2017
At RoboUniverse in San Diego, agricultural robots and the labor shortage were quickly identified as the biggest issues facing the industry today. Water scarcity and field health were other key issues ...
Rising need for nursery, indoor and vertical farming
Frank Tobe
28 Nov 2016
To meet rising food demands from a growing global population, over 250 million acres of arable land will be needed – about 20% more land than all of Brazil. Alternatively, agricultural production wi...
Digital farms are already a reality
Frank Tobe
10 Nov 2016
Farmers, ranchers and growers the world over are transitioning to precision agricultural methods, i.e., subdividing their acreage into many unique sub-plots -- in some cases right down to the indivi...
Protecting European wine: Vinbot rover optimises harvest and quality
Horizon Magazine
13 May 2016
by Fintan Burke
With warmer winters and drier summers, climate change might even be having an effect on your favourite bottle of wine.
Winemakers are already witnessing changes. In...
Showcasing New Zealand AgTech: Bringing automation and robotics to the farm
Andra Keay and Silicon Valley Robotics
27 Apr 2016
New Zealand’s government innovation agency Callaghan Innovations and Silicon Valley’s innovation non-profit SVForum organized Transforming AgTech, an event bringing together New Zealand and US a...
Using drones in wine making
Waypoint
28 Dec 2015
In 2014, viticulturist William Metz was granted a fellowship by the Villa d’Este Wine Symposium to spend a full year evaluating the potential applications of drones in wine making — a project t...
Yamaha RMAX crop sprayer gets full FAA approval
Frank Tobe
21 Dec 2015
The FAA granted Yamaha Motor Corporation an Agricultural Aircraft Operations certificate for their RMAX crop spraying remotely piloted helicopters....
Blueberry picking robot could win $250,000 prize
Silicon Valley Robotics
29 Oct 2015
Here’s an interesting robotics challenge – a coalition of blueberry farmers are offering a $250,000 prize for automation solutions that improve blueberry picking. The deadline for entries in the c...
Drought and desertification: How robots might help
John Payne
17 Apr 2015
Groundwater levels in California's Central Valley are down to historic lows and reservoirs have been depleted following four consecutive years of severe drought in the state. California is set to i...
2 agricultural robotics projects funded under latest Horizon 2020
John Payne
27 Jan 2015
On January 13 the EU announced its list of robotics projects funded under Horizon 2020, the EU funding program for research and innovation. Agriculture is one of four “priority domains” for robot...
Harvesting Robots for High-value Crops | Journal of Field Robotics
John Payne
14 Jul 2014
“This review article analyzes state-of-the-art and future perspectives for harvesting robots in high-value crops. The objectives were to characterize the crop environment relevant for robotic harves...
University students developing robotic gardening technology | NASA
John Payne
12 Jul 2014
As astronauts explore beyond Earth, they will need to make their habitat as self-sustaining as possible. This includes growing fruits and vegetables.Source: www.nasa.gov...
Will agricultural robots arrive in time to keep fruit and vegetable costs down?
Frank Tobe
11 Jul 2014
Grape pickers migrate from field to field in northern Mexico and California. Photo credit: Tomas Castelazo (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons.
77% of all agricultural workers in the US are foreign bor...
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Zero Tillage Robotics, with Peter Corke
Ron Vanderkley
02 May 2014
In this episode, Ron Vanderkley speaks with Professor Peter Corke from Queensland University of Technology, about the fast-tracking research that will see robots planting, weeding, maintaining and har...
Urban vegetable garden system with LED lighting
DigInfo TV
10 Mar 2014
Keystone Technology's LED vegetable garden system is a cultivation system for indoor plant factories that uses LED lighting instead of sunlight. The most defining feature of the system on display at t...
Harvest Automation rolls out bots for nurseries
Frank Tobe
17 Jan 2014
Harvest Automation, a Massachusetts-based start-up, has begun shipping their robots. After five years and an A, B and C round of equity funding, plus some debt, totalling almost $25 million, their HV-...
From the Greenhouse to the Fields, with David Dorhout
Ron Vanderkley
15 Nov 2013
Link to audio file (27:16)
In this episode, Ron Vanderkley speaks with David Dorhout from Iowa State University about his Agricultural Robots that include Prospero the robot farmer and Aquarius the g...
Blue River Technology, with Jorge Heraud
Sabine Hauert
03 Nov 2013
Link to audio file (31:48)
In this episode Sabine Hauert speaks with Jorge Heraud, CEO of California-based startup Blue River Technology which brings together computer vision and robotics to auto...
FutureDairy, with Kendra Kerrisk
Ron Vanderkley
18 Oct 2013
Link to audio file (38:51)
FutureDairy is an R&D development program to help Australian dairy farmers manage the challenges they are likely to face during the next 20 years. In this episode, Ron ...
Robotics and the disruptive transformation of agriculture
John Payne
15 Jul 2013
Over the last few years, there has been increasing talk about the potential of agriculture as a market for robotics. Speaking about future markets for unmanned aerial systems in a recent presentation ...
CMURobotics RI Seminar: Mel Torrie of Autonomous Solutions
John Payne
02 Feb 2013
As guest speaker for a CMURobotics RI Seminar, titled Lessons Learned Bootstrapping a Robotic Vehicle Company, Mel Torrie of Autonomous Solutions (Petersboro, Utah), describes how he got into robotics...
Farming Today 14/01/2013: interview with Simon Blackmore | BBC Radio 4
John Payne
14 Jan 2013
“Farming Today takes a glimpse into a future which could have tractors driving themselves and robots pulling weeds. Anna Hill talks to a leading authority on precision farming, Professor Simon B...
David Gardner, CEO of RASE, at Oxford Farming Conference
John Payne
06 Jan 2013
Together with Professor Maurice Maloney, Director of Rothamsted Research, David Gardner, CEO of The Royal Agricultural Society of England, speaking with Charlotte Smith of the BBC R4's Farming Today, ...
Exoskeleton designed to assist agricultural workers and gardeners
John Payne
30 Dec 2012
“The Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology has developed an agriculture robot suit designed specifically to help out with tough agricultural work like pulling radishes because about 40 ...
Technology for its own sake vs. benefits
John Payne
23 Dec 2012
On using robots to make gardening scalable to millions of acres…
You might wonder why I want to turn land management over to robots. Is it because I'm such a geek that I think everything goes bet...
Future of farming geared for efficient robotic workers | Design News, by Cabe Atwell
John Payne
29 Nov 2012
“One way to achieve increased efficiency is to employ robotic farmers and automated tools, which never get tired. Not to mention bots achieve a level of precision that can’t be matched by ...
Reviewing “Farmerbots: a new industrial revolution” by James Mitchell Crow
John Payne
11 Nov 2012
Writing in issue 2888 of New Scientist, James Mitchell Crow introduces us to the notion that robots will, sooner or later, be tending the crops we depend upon for food, and takes us on a whirlwind wor...
Down on the robofarm | equities.com
John Payne
26 Oct 2012
"Soon, we might see fields with agribots that can identify individual seedlings and coax them along with tailored drops of fertiliser and measured sips of water. Other machines would distinguish weeds...
“Lettuce Bot” rolls through crops, terminates weeds it visually identifies | Singularity Hub
Andra Keay
19 Sep 2012
"This agricultural robot is the product of Blue River Technology, an Indiana-based startup founded last year by two Stanford alums. The company looks to disrupt the herbicide industry by using sophist...
Field robotics, with Salah Sukkarieh
Podcast team
10 Aug 2012
Link to audio file (29:22)Link to transcriptIn this episode, we talk to Salah Sukkarieh, Director of Research and Innovation at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR). He gives us an overview...
Video: new remote sensors from Agri Con at DLG Field Days
John Payne
09 Jul 2012
See on Scoop.it - Cultibotics
Hermann Leithold, product manager for Agri Con, explains the company’s precision technologies at its display at DLG Field Days in Bernburg-Strenzfeld, Germany, held ...
10th annual Field Robot Event underway
John Payne
28 Jun 2012
This year's Field Robot Event (FRE 2012) began today and runs through Saturday. I will bring together what reports I am able to find once the dust settles, but meanwhile you can view videos from past ...
Nikolaus Correll at TEDx Front Range 2012
John Payne
16 Jun 2012
University of Colorado Assistant Professor Nikolaus Correll, speaking at TEDx Front Range earlier this year, outlined his vision for transforming agriculture through robotic cultivation.
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