Posted on 07/10/2015 7:49:14 AM PDT by Red Badger
Dr Christopher Lehnert talked about the potential robots held for the agriculture industry at CQ University yesterday.
A STEREOTYPICAL farmer might wear overalls and gumboots in 2015.
But in not long at all, he could be a state-of-the-art robot.
Agricultural robotics research fellow Dr Christopher Lehnert spoke at CQUniversity yesterday about robots being developed to pick fruit and detect weeds.
One problem they could solve was harvesting labour shortages.
"It's a causal workforce problem. (For farmers) their really high risk is getting a workforce to pick the fruit," Mr Lehnert said.
"There's not a worry about job losses. We're just shifting the paradigm. Instead of being in the field, they will control robots."
He hoped to be well on the way towards a commercial fruit-picking design by the end of next year.
Another part of his research was designing robots for broadacre weed management.
"We are looking at taking the human out of the tractor and getting an autonomous platform," he said.
"The large machines they use on farms do a lot of damage to the soil. They compact the soils and destroy them.
"But robots would be smaller, they wouldn't cause this issue."
Problems with herbicide resistance are costing farms millions, but Dr Lehnert said robots could help solve this problem.
"You normally have to do a 'double knock' or multiple applications of herbicide.
"As the robot has a vision system on board it can detect the weed and apply herbicide or alternative mechanical methods to kill the weeds individually.
"Instead of blanket spraying the farm, you reduce your costs in herbicide use.
"This is close to commercial application."
When they start drinking & driving we may have a problem.
Well, they’re already driving.......................
It’s all fun and games until they achieve self awareness and become Skynet.
Living like Isaac Asimov’s Spacers.......................Who eventually all but died out.....................
Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics must be implemented immediately!.....................
Now, if we only had a cotton-picking robot and a time machine...
They would have to be solar powered, else no fuel...................
This is kindergarten weeding. There are 120 weed species on my property with 250 natives under lighting conditions so variable no vision system I know can do it. Hell, people can hardly do it by the vegetative attributes necessary in dealing with cleistogamous weeds; I have professional botanists asking me for identifications when they visit. The terrain is rugged and the hazards intense. It's a long way to an electrical outlet.
Try that Dr. Lehnart. Meanwhile, one can train animals to EAT the weeds and leave the cash crop alone. Robots that are good to eat!
I'm getting really tired of misanthropic control freaks with too much money that fund crap like this.
“Oh come on. The first thing will be sexbots.”
Well for some people perhaps. I’ve got to have coffee and breakfast first.
Sex is just one more add-on (I did not say strap-on) feature.
Sure people want it, but they mostly won’t want to pay more for a standalone sexbot. No doubt there will be some models that are much more alluring than a Caitlyn Jenner or a Chaz Bono, but no matter how good looking they become, most of the day you will want that critter cooking and cleaning.
“I have a robot that mows my lawn. Very easy to set up. Works great. Hard to steal (GPS/alarm).”
Where did you score one of those? I could really use one and would definitely check it out....
A robot with a couple of gigabytes of memory could have the entire botanical catalog in its ‘brain’ to identify everything from the seed to adult plant, color and flower recognition included. It can ‘see’ in total darkness through infra-red and ultra-violet sensors to identify plants spectral emissions. The computer is a marvelous invention...............
“Gardener, cook, maid, security guard, brewer, baker, cheesemaker, plumber, doctor, DJ, dance partner, all-around handyman. Everyone will want one.”
Have you seen the new series on AMC? It is called “Humans” and is precisely what you describe here...
“There are 120 weed species on my property with 250 natives”
In the mid-term, that is a simple technical problem to scale up - a slightly bigger database to search. Not a showstopper. The same with the sensors and decision rules - it is just a matter of time and effort. When we have botanist-like recognition, we can grow mixed crops in the same field, or have a mixed flower garden maintained by our personal robot.
Early on, for agricultural purposes, they just need to know one species - the crop. They can kill everything else.
You don’t have to be misanthropic to want agricultural robots to produce food for people cheaper, better and safer.
In your kindergarten dreams maybe. Besides, the "catalog" is full of errors. You really don't know what you are talking about here.
It can ‘see’ in total darkness through infra-red and ultra-violet sensors to identify plants spectral emissions. The computer is a marvelous invention...............
I was designing infrared vision system tools for in-process characterization of eutectic die attach back in the '80s. I am the only person who has EVER re-established 100% native grasslands after a 200 year weed deposition history, ANYWHERE. You don't know what you are talking about.
The 80’s was a long time ago, technology-wise.......................
“Have you seen the new series on AMC? It is called “Humans””
Thanks Sergeant Major, I’ll check it out.
Duh. Not exactly a convincing argument.
I’m not trying to provoke an argument.................
A farm is a far cry from what I’m talking about, but then, you’ve done so little research on what I’ve posted before shooting your mouth that I don’t expect much more.
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