Robot Farmers

The security of our food supply is a global concern. While consumption continues to increase, production is being threatened on all fronts – by unsustainable farming practices, forecasts of fewer and fewer farmers in the future, and an aging population that could soon result in a crippling labor shortage. Thankfully, researchers and corporations have been working together to address these issues, and robotics will likely be at the heart of the solution. In fact, the European Robotics Technology Platform announced that a fleet of agricultural robots will soon be deployed worldwide to test their capabilities for agricultural automation. And a Japanese company is planning to open the first farm run almost entirely by robots in 2017.

To date, robots have only been routinely used for specific tasks like milking, feed distribution and cleaning, but technology can address many more issues of traditional farming. For example, advances in virtual sight, object recognition and dexterous manipulation will enable robots to be more effective and autonomous. Experiments with the prototype robotic Crop Scout demonstrated a 98 percent reduction in the amount of pesticides and herbicides by only treating areas that are affected by diseases or pests, as opposed to the more common practice of prophylactic over-treating. Lasers can be used for multiple tasks including harvesting and weeding. And lightweight robots (guided by GPS or Google Earth) that cultivate a minimum volume of soil (known as micro-tilling) will greatly reduce compaction damage caused by plowing, disking and harrowing.

But that’s not all…

Sensors that place seeds precisely according to soil moisture levels and artificially “smell” ripeness levels will enable selective planting and harvesting to increase yields and maintain quality. And enclosed farms (like the one being planned in Japan) will be automatically optimized for temperature, humidity, lighting, water and CO2 levels.