This news article was originally written in Spanish. It has been automatically translated for your convenience. Reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, however, no automated translation is perfect nor is it intended to replace a human translator. The original article in Spanish can be viewed at La robótica revolucionará la agricultura

The measurements that realise the field will serve to realise a more effective management of the crops

The robotics will revolutionise the agriculture

Editorial Interempresas31/05/2012

31 May 2012

With a hand-held shortage of agricultural work all over the world and with demographic data that show that the half age of the agriculturalists follows going up, the fight for ensuring our production of foods is not an option, as it left glimpse to the assistants to the past European Forum of Robotics 2012. To the pair of this uncertainty on the future, in the world developed, at least, exists an increasing worry on the quality of the product and the hygiene, as well as by the environingingmental impact of the agriculture.

“Up to now, thanks to a big confidence on a large scale in the agriculture mechanised in combination with a hand of cheap work in the emergent economies, the deployment of the robotics had limited to a small number of specific tasks, such as the milking, dosage of foods for the livestock or the cleaning of the farm ”, explained the professor Simon Blackmore, director of Engineering of Harper Adams University College. “Previous attempts to build complex robots that used optical sensors for, for example, the crop of difficult harvests to handle or delicate, finished in failure. The machines were not the sufficiently robust, and yes too slow and expensive”. Researchers arrived to the conclusion that a combination of the visual coordination-manual human, the skill in the manipulation and a recognition advanced of objects did not result only desirable, but also a challenge.

Robot Crop Scout during the recolección.

With the support of the European networks of robotic EURON and EUROP founded in the past European Forum of Robotics the EARN (European Agricultural Robotics Network). “We have begun with a leaf of paper in white”, commented Blackmore. “We are reevaluando all the approach to the agriculture. By the moment, the crops plant in straight rows to adapt to the machines. But, what would happen if it planted following the outlines of the earth and taking into account the environingingmental conditions of each square metre to cultivate? The potential increase of the production would be immense if it could cultivate and recolectar of a form directed, and no of mechanical form. We are speaking of microcultivos, deshierbe mechanical and seeds with small and intelligent autonomous and modular machines”.

The delegates in the Forum could see in action prototypes of robots multitarea developed by the universities of Copenhagen, Wageningen (Low Countries) and Kaiserslautern (Germany), and the institute of investigation WUR, of the Low Countries. One of the prototypes was Crop Scout, a robotic navigator of crops that acts like a platform of able follow-up to realise measurements in the crops and detect illnesses. At present, the agriculturalists are used to to use pesticidas and herbicides of preventive form, rociando his crops present or no plagues or illnesses. The essays with the navigator of crops Crop Scout carried to a reduction of 98% in the quantity of product powdered, since the pulverizador robotic envoy by the navigator only treated the surfaces or concrete plants affected by illnesses or plagues.

The new generation of agricultural robots aimed some impressesive results in the essays

The new generation of agricultural robots aimed some impressesive results in the essays. Although much smaller that the traditional agricultural machinery, can act of conjoint form and carry out tasks like the pulverización with phytosanitary ware. The lasers are used for multiple tasks, from the harvest to the siega of bad grasses. The operations of tractors, for the labranza or the plough, causes a compactación and the movement of 65% of the area of field in which they operate. However, the studies show that 90% of the power that uses in the crop allocates to repair the damages caused by tractors. “The obvious conclusion is that we have to detain the movement of the tractors in the field, whenever it was not strictly necessary”, said Blackmore.

The new generation of robots of light weight will move with wide tyres and of low pressesure and only will treat the minimum volume of necessary floor to obtain some surroundings of optimum crop. The seeds place with precision, in accordance with the levels of humidity of the floor. The movements will be controlled by ‘Safar' (Software architecture for Agricultural Robots) and the routes scheduled previously with Google Earth. These prototypes already have showed to be able to realise a recolección selective, what allows to the agriculturalists cultivate with greater quality: only recolecta that fruit that was mature, the one who no, leaves grow in the field.

“Unlike industries like the aerospace, the agriculture is an industry with low margins, by what is of vital importance that these new robots are at the same time robust and economic. Being realistic, are forced to put to work in crops of high value to start with. Already there have been essays of sensors designed for artificially ‘smell' the maturity of the plant”, remarks Blackmore. “Inside 20 years the robotics will have revolutionised the agriculture. The new robots will be sufficiently intelligent as to adapt to natural resources and environingingment, at the same time that will allow to produce foods of quality of competitive and sustainable form”.