Robot farms harvest the first crop completely automatically

At this time, many parts of the world are in the harvest season and farmers are getting more involved with the work of co-workers, then on a UK farm, robots - not humans - are do all the hard work here.

According to LiveScience, Hands Free Hectare - the first in the world to use robots that are completely human- powered, is operated by harvested researchers from Harper Adams University (Edgmond, UK). about 5 tons of young barley. According to the researchers, self-control vehicles on the farm have done everything from start to finish - including the following stages: sowing, fertilizing, sampling and collecting planning.

The research team behind the project said that robot technology could help improve productivity in agriculture, which is necessary when the world population is increasing.

Hands Free Hectare Farm in the United Kingdom.(Image: Harper Adams University).

The researchers solved this problem by using commercially available agricultural machines and open source software to control drones.

Jonathan Gill, a researcher in electronics at Harper Adams University and project leader, said: "In the field of agriculture, no one has really solved the problem of self-control. We have wondering, why can't this be possible? If it is possible to do it with the current self-driving drone system that is relatively cheap, why are there still companies out there? Obtaining an unacceptable fee for a true system can only go in a straight line? "

Researchers bought some small agricultural machines, including a tractor and a combined machine, a machine to harvest grains. They then equipped these machines with self-controlled actuators, electronic devices and technology, allowing them to control these machines without the need for their presence and intervention. people.

Gill said: "The first stage is to control them (improved agricultural equipment) through radio waves. This is the first step towards self-control, from there, we take steps. Prepared to put all the work needed to be done into an automated system ".

Martin Abell - an employee of Precision Decisions, a company that works in the agricultural sector and is working with the university - and also Gill's partner, explaining that the system follows an orbit with Programmed stops to perform certain actions.

Abell said: "The movement of vehicles is entirely based on the Global Positioning System (GPS) and mainly towards the goals we have predetermined. At each different GPS target, will have different actions accordingly ".

Abell added that, although the researchers tried to make the machine go in a straight line, it resulted in a lot of crop damage. However, scientists think they will be able to overcome the problem in the next few years and will yield better than an old-style farm.

To monitor the field and sample the crops, the researchers developed special tools attached to drone devices. When these devices fly in the fields, the clamps can cut some samples and send them to researchers.

Robot technology can help future farmers distribute fertilizers and herbicides more accurately.

Scientists say robot technology could help future farmers distribute fertilizers and herbicides more accurately, and also help improve soil quality. Now, to complete all the necessary tasks in a reasonable time, farmers must rely on very large and heavy machines. According to researchers, in the future, they (farmers) can use smaller tractors and harvesters.

The researchers further explained, with the help of this new technology, farmers only need to fertilize crops that are suffering from nutrient deficiencies and help to avoid wasting good and healthy plants, no need to fertilize.

Abell said: "At the present time, large, fast-acting machines are used in agriculture to help cover the surface area quickly, but this is not correct. Small machines work with small workspaces. "Instead of using a 30-meter-long agricultural sprayer, you'll need only about 6 meters, and that's just the beginning of the smaller stuff."

The Harper Adams team plans to use young barley harvested by robots to produce the "Hands Free" brand " homegrown" beer (the name of the farm - in limited quantities). and will send them to the project partners as a sincere thanks.

In the coming years, the team wants to focus on improving the accuracy and measuring the impact of robot technology on harvestable yields.