தீமை செய்யக்கூடிய வகையை சேர்ந்த புழுக்களிலேயே மோசமானது ஸ்போடாப்டிரா ஃப்ரூஜ்பெர்டாடா என்னும் உயிரியல் பெயர் கொண்ட கூட்டம்கூட்டமாகச் சென்று இலைகளுக்கும் காய்களுக்கும் சேதம் விளைவிக்கும் ஒரு வகைப் புழு படைப்புழு.
Fall Armyworm
Fall Armyworm (FAW), or Spodoptera frugiperda, is an insect that is native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. In its larva stage, it can cause significant damage to crops, in not well managed. It prefers maize, but can feed on more than 80 additional species of plants, including rice, sorghum, millet, sugarcane, vegetable crops and cotton. In Africa, FAW was first detected in Nigeria in January 2016 and has quickly spread across virtually all of sub-Saharan Africa. Because of trade and the moth's strong flying ability, it has the potential to spread further. Farmers will need great support to sustainably manage FAW in their cropping systems through Integrated Pest Management.
Key facts on Fall Armyworm
Fall Armyworm is an insect native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas
In the African continent, it was first detected in Central and Western Africa in early 2016
In the larval stage, the insect causes damage to crops, feeding on more than 80 plant species
FAW primarily affects maize, but also rice and sorghum as well as cotton and some vegetables
The moth can fly up to 100 km per night
The female moth can lay up to a total of 1 000 eggs in her lifetime
படைப்புழுக்களின்
வரலாற்றை தெரிந்துகொள்வதற்காக தமிழ்நாடு வேளாண் பல்கலைக்கழகத்தின்
பூச்சியியல் துறையின் தலைவர் முத்துகிருஷ்ணனை தொடர்பு கொண்டோது அவர்
தெரிவித்த கருத்துகள்.
"வெறும் 30 நாட்கள் வாழும் படைப்புழுக்கள்
மற்ற புழுக்களை போலன்றி, பல்லாயிரம் கிலோமீட்டர்கள் பறக்கக்கூடியது. முதன்
முதலில் அமெரிக்காவில் கண்டறியப்பட்ட இந்த படைப்புழுக்கள் அங்கிருந்து
ஆப்ரிக்க நாடுகளுக்கு சென்று சோளம் உள்ளிட்ட பல்வேறு பயிர்களை கூண்டோடு
அழித்து விவசாய துறையில் மிகப் பெரிய பாதிப்பை ஏற்படுத்தியது மட்டுமின்றி
பஞ்சத்துக்கும், பட்டினிக்கும் மக்களை ஆளாக்கியது.
"தனது வாழ்நாளில் புழுவிலிருந்து அந்துப்பூச்சியாக உருமாறியவுடன்
உடனடியாக இனச்சேர்கையில் ஈடுபடும் இவை ஒரேசமயத்தில் 200 முதல் 300
முட்டைகளை இடும் தன்மையை கொண்டது. சில நாட்களில் முட்டையிலிருந்து
வெளிவரும் படைப்புழுக்களுக்கு 16 கால்கள் இருப்பதுடன் அடுத்த இரு
வாரங்களில் 3 மிமீ என்ற அளவிலிருந்து 2 ½ செ.மீட்டர் நீளத்திற்கு
வளர்கிறது.
அதற்கு இடைப்பட்ட காலத்தில் தன்னாலான அளவுக்கு
அதிகப்படிப்பான சோளம் உள்ளிட்ட தனக்கு விருப்பமான பயிர்களை உட்கொண்டு பிறகு
மண்ணுக்குள் செல்கிறது. மண்ணுக்குள் அடுத்த 10 நாட்களுக்கு இருக்கும்
அவற்றின் கால்களின் எண்ணிக்கை ஆறாக குறைந்து, புதிதாக இரண்டு இறக்கைகளும்,
கண்களும் பெற்றுக்கொண்டு ஆண், பெண் அந்துப்பூச்சிகளாக உருவெடுக்கும்.
"விவசாயிகள் ஒவ்வொரு பருவத்துக்கும் வேறுபட்ட பயிர் வகைகளை முயற்சி
செய்வதும், உழவு செய்தவுடன் வேப்பம் புண்ணாக்குகளை நிலத்தில் போடுவதும்
படைப்புழுக்கள் உள்ளிட்ட பல்வேறு தீமை செய்யும் புழுக்கள்,
பூச்சிகளிடமிருந்து பயிர்களை பாதுகாக்கும். அது மட்டுமின்றி, வரப்பு
பயிர்களையும், வேலி செடிகளையும் வளர்ப்பதன் மூலம் பிரச்சனையிலிருந்து
எளிதாக தப்பிக்க முடியும்.
செயற்கையான வழிகளை பார்க்கும்போது, இரவில்
மட்டுமே அட்டகாசத்தில் ஈடுபடும் படைப்புழுக்களுக்கு தொந்தரவு ஏற்படுத்தும்
வகையில் மின் விளக்குகளை அமைத்து அவற்றை திசைதிருப்பி மொத்தமாக
பிடித்துவிடமுடியும். மேலும், பெண் அந்துப்பூச்சிகள் இனச்சேர்க்கைக்கு
தயாராகும்போது வெளியிடும் பெரோமோன் என்னும் திரவத்தை செயற்கையாக
வெளிப்படுத்தி ஆண் அந்துப்பூச்சிகளை ஏமாற்றி மொத்தமாக பிடிக்க முடியும்"
என்று படைப்புழுக்களை அதன் வாழ்க்கை போக்கின் பல்வேறு நிலைகளில்
கட்டுப்படுத்தும் வழிமுறைகளை அவர் பட்டியலிடுகிறார்.
A new planter technology called COCOON is creating planting and forestry opportunities for people living in arid climates and in areas afflicted with degraded land. The COCOON system has been designed by the land development group, Land Life Company, who has recently won the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge award for sustainable innovation in the Netherlands. The company plan to use the prize money to launch pilot projects in Mexico, Spain and California.
COCOON is a low-cost, biodegradable and water-efficient planting technology, designed to restore dry and deforested land where there is no affordable or maintainable substitute. It is made up of four components: a water reservoir, mycorrhizal fungi supplement, an evaporation sheet and a tree shelter.
Together, these elements foster hardy trees with strong root systems that are resilient to extreme conditions associated with drier regions. The water resevoir, made from bio waste, is only filled with water once during planting, and creates a moat around the plant, which proceeds to draw the water through absorbent bamboo wicks. As the reservoir is emptied, a basin area is created around the plant to catch rain and as the reservoir degrades, it provides nutrients for the plant.
The fungi supplement increases the surface area of the roots by 100 to 1000 times, rooting the plant and helping it catch hard-to-reach nutrients. The tree shelter is used to protect the plant against harsh weather and small animals, and the biodegradable evaporation sheet sits below the topsoil, but above the resevoir to eliminate evaporation of water and prevent the growth of weeds in the soil.
Thanks http://www.designindaba.com/
Forget farm to table, how about farm to office desk?
New York firmKono Designscreated the urban farmin 2010, in a nine-storey office building in Tokyo to allow employees to grow and harvest their own food at work. Dezeen spoke with company principal Yoshimi Kono this week to hear more about the project.
Pasona Urban Farm
"Workers in nearby buildings can be seen pointing out and talking about new flowers and plants and even the seasons – all in the middle of a busy intersection in Tokyo's metropolitan area," Kono told Dezeen. "The change in the way local people think and what they talk about was always one of the long-term goals of the project."
Pasona Urban Farm
The creation of the new headquarters for Japanese recruitment firm Pasona consisted of refurbishing a 50 year old building to include office areas, an auditorium, cafeterias, a rooftop garden and urban farming facilities. Inside the 19,974 square metre office building there are 3995 square metres dedicated to green space that house over 200 species of plants, fruits, vegetables and rice.
Kono told Dezeen that all of the food is harvested, prepared and served on-site in the cafeterias - makingPasona's Urban Farmthe largest farm-to-table office scheme in Japan.
Pasona employees are encourage to maintain and harvest the crops and are supported by a team of agricultural specialists.
Pasona Urban Farm
"My client has a larger vision to help create new farmers in urban areas of Japan and a renewed interest in that lifestyle," Kono told Dezeen.
"One way to encourage this is to not just tell urban communities about farms and plants, but to actively engage with them through both a visual intervention in their busy lifestyle and educational programs focusing on farming methods and practices that are common in Japan," he added.
Pasona Urban Farm
The building has a double-skin green facade where flowers and orange trees are planted on small balconies. From the outside, the office block appears to be draped in green foliage.
"The design focus was not on the imposed standards of green, where energy offsets and strict efficiency rates rule," said Kono. "But rather on an idea of a green building that can change the way people think about their daily lives and even their own personal career choice and life path."
Pasona Urban Farm
Inside the offices, tomato vines are suspended above conference tables, lemon and passion fruit trees are used as partitions for meeting spaces, salad leaves are grown inside seminar rooms and bean sprouts are grown under benches.
Pasona Urban Farm
Plants hang in bags surrounding meeting desks and there are vines growing within vertical cages and wooden plant boxes around the building.
Pasona Urban Farm
Ducts, pipes and vertical shafts were rerouted to the perimeter of the building to allow for maximum height ceilings and a climate control system is used to monitor humidity, temperature and air flow in the building to ensure it is safe for the employees and suitable for the farm.
Pasona Urban Farm
"It is important not to just think about how we can use our natural resources better from a distance, but to actively engage with nature and create new groups of people who have a deep interest and respect for the world they live in," said Kono.
Pasona Urban Farm
"It is important to note that this is not a passive building with plants on the walls, this is an actively growing building, with plantings used for educational workshops where Pasona employees and outside community members can come in and learn farming practices."
Pasona Urban Farm
Yoshimi Kono studied architecture in Tokyo and was a chief designer withShigeru Uchida at Studio 80in Tokyo and later became partner atVignelli Associatesin New York. He founded Kono Designs in 2000.
Pasona Urban Farm
Plants growing on the outside and inside of buildings have been popular on Dezeen recently. Other features include the news that botanistPatrick Blanc has unveiled his latest green wall during Paris Design Week this week and we reported onBlanc's collaboration with French architect Jean Nouvel to create the world's tallest living wall in Sydney.
Pasona Urban Farm
Photographs are courtesy ofKono Designs.
Here's a project description:
Pasona Urban Farm
Located in down-town Tokyo, Pasona HQ is a nine story high, 215,000 square foot corporate office building for a Japanese recruitment company, Pasona Group. Instead of building a new structure from ground up, an existing 50 years old building was renovated, keeping its building envelope and superstructure.
Pasona Urban Farm
The project consists of a double-skin green facade, offices, an auditorium, cafeterias, a rooftop garden and most notably, urban farming facilities integrated within the building. The green space totals over 43,000 square feet with 200 species including fruits, vegetables and rice that are harvested, prepared and served at the cafeterias within the building. It is the largest and most direct farm-to-table of its kind ever realised inside an office building in Japan.
Pasona Urban Farm
The double-skin green facade features seasonal flowers and orange trees planted within the 3' deep balconies. Partially relying on natural exterior climate, these plants create a living green wall and a dynamic identity to the public. This was a significant loss to the net rentable area for a commercial office. However, Pasona believed in the benefits of urban farm and green space to engage the public and to provide better workspace for their employees.
Pasona Urban Farm
The balconies also help shade and insulate the interiors while providing fresh air with operable windows, a practical feature not only rare for a mid rise commercial building but also helps reduce heating and cooling loads of the building during moderate climate. The entire facade is then wrapped with deep grid of fins, creating further depth, volume and orders to the organic green wall.
Pasona Urban Farm
Within the interior, the deep beams and large columns of the existing structure are arranged in a tight interval causing low interior ceiling of 7'-6". With building services passing below, some area was even lower at 6'-8". Instead, all ducts, pipes and their vertical shafts were re-routed to the perimeter, allowing maximum height with exposed ceilings between the beams.
Lightings are then installed, hidden on the bottom vertical edge of the beams, turning the spaces between the beams into a large light cove without further lowering the ceiling. This lighting method, used throughout the workspace from second floor to 9th floor, achieved 30% less energy than the conventional ceiling mounted method.
Pasona Urban Farm
Besides creating a better work environment, Pasona also understands that in Japan opportunities for job placement into farming are very limited because of the steady decline of farming within the country. Instead, Pasona focuses on educating and cultivating next generation of farmers by offering public seminars, lectures and internship programs.
The programs empower students with case studies, management skills and financial advices to promote both traditional and urban farming as lucrative professions and business opportunities. This was one of the main reason for Pasona to create urban farm within their headquarters in downtown Tokyo, aiming to reverse the declining trend in the number of farmers and to ensure sustainable future food production.
Pasona Urban Farm
Currently, Japan produces less than one-third of their grain locally and imports over 50 million tons of food annually, which on average is transported over 9,000 miles, the highest in the world. As the crops harvested in Pasona HQ are served within the building cafeterias, it highlights 'zero food mileage' concept of a more sustainable food distribution system that reduces energy and transportation cost.
Pasona Urban Farm
Japan's reliance on imported food is due to its limited arable land. Merely 12% of its land is suitable for cultivation. Farmland in Pasona HQ is highly efficient urban arable land, stacked as a vertical farm with modern farming technology to maximise crop yields.
Despite the increased energy required in the upkeep of the plants, the project believes in the long term benefits and sustainability in recruiting new urban farmers to practice alternative food distribution and production by creating more urban farmland and reducing food mileage in Japan.
Pasona Urban Farm
Using both hydroponic and soil based farming, in Pasona HQ, crops and office workers share a common space. For example, tomato vines are suspended above conference tables, lemon and passion fruit trees are used as partitions for meeting spaces, salad leaves are grown inside seminar rooms and bean sprouts are grown under benches.
Pasona Urban Farm
The main lobby also features a rice paddy and a broccoli field. These crops are equipped with metal halide, HEFL, fluorescent and LED lamps and an automatic irrigation system. An intelligent climate control system monitors humidity, temperature and breeze to balance human comfort during office hours and optimise crop growth during after hours. This maximises crop yield and annual harvests.
Pasona Urban Farm
Besides future sustainability of farmers, Pasona HQ's urban farm is beyond visual and aesthetic improvement. It exposes city workers to growing crops and interaction with farmland on a daily basis and provides improvement in mental health, productivity and relaxation in the workplace. Studies show that most people in urbanised societies spend over 80% of their time indoors. Plants are also known to improve the air quality we breathe by carbon sequestration and removing volatile organic compound. A sampling on the air at Pasona HQ have shown reduction of carbon dioxide where plants are abundant. Such improvement on the air quality can increase productivity at work by 12%, improves common symptoms of discomfort and ailments at work by 23%, reduce absenteeism and staff turnover cost.
Pasona Urban Farm by Kono Designs
Employees of Pasona HQ are asked to participate in the maintenance and harvesting of crops with the help of agricultural specialists. Such activity encourages social interaction among employees leading to better teamwork on the job. It also provides them with a sense of responsibility and accomplishment in growing and maintaining the crops that are ultimately prepared and served to their fellow co-workers at the building's cafeterias.
Pasona Urban Farm
Pasona Urban Farm is a unique workplace environment that promotes higher work efficiency, social interaction, future sustainability and engages the wider community of Tokyo by showcasing the benefits and technology of urban agriculture.
'Farm From A Box' is a storage unit containing everything you need to
grow and sustain a 2-acre farm, making it easy to provide for your
community, teach children about plants and nature and even for starting
your own farming business.
Aero Farms
is on track to produce 2 million pounds of food per year in its
70,000-square-foot facility in Newark, under construction less than
an hour outside of Manhattan. Their efficient operation, based on
previous experience at similar but smaller facilities, can accomplish
this astonishing output “while using 95% less water than field
farmed-food and with yields 75 times higher per square foot annually.” This new facility is comparable in efficiency to what is currently the world’s largest vertical farm
in Japan, but nearly three times the size. Staggering its crops is part
of the success behind AeroFarm’s strategy at their new and existing
locations – at a given facility they are able to switch between 22 crops
per year. Their all-season growth works with specialized LED lights and
climate controls all without the need for sunlight or soil.
“We use aeroponics to mist the roots of our greens with nutrients,
water, and oxygen.,” explains AeroFarms. “Our aeroponic system is a
closed loop system, using 95% less water than field farming, 40% less
than hydroponics, and zero pesticides.” Smart pest management and highly-detailed data feedback loops help
keep the system operating at peak efficiency and provide opportunities
for iterative improvement. Proximity to the Big Apple makes for lower transportation costs and a large urban market eager for fresh local produce.
After breaking ground last year, the new facility is nearing
completion, becoming operational in stages along the way. “Our passion
is great tasting food and sharing our harvest with the world. In Newark,
New Jersey, we are growing and selling into the New York Metro area.”
Of the larger operations, AeroFarms elaborates: “There has been
tremendous demand for our locally grown, delicious, produce, and we have
farms in development in multiple US states and on four continents.
There has never been a greater need for safe, dependable, nutritious
food, and we are scaling quickly to transform agriculture around the
world.”
Agriculture is one of our most important industries. It provides food, feed and fuel necessary for our survival. With the global population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, agricultural production must double to meet the demand. And because of limited arable land, productivity must increase 25% to help meet that goal.
Consider these factoids:
Major US farming conglomerates are buying foreign land and beginning to farm there citing lower overall cost.
China is buying land in Africa and sending skilled workers to supervise those new farms.
Farmers and ranchers the world over are transitioning to precision agricultural methods, i.e., subdividing their acreage into many sub-plots, in some cases, right down to the individual plant/tree/animal thereby enabling increased productivity and lower overall costs.
Unmanned aerial vehicles are being used to map, observe, sense and spray.
Unmanned (or at least autonomous) ground vehicles are providing more precise movements and thereby enabling precision practices.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 2012 median pay for farm workers was $9.09.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there were 749,400 ag workers in 2012, down 3% (25,000) from 2011.
74% - approximate number of crop workers in the US who were born in Mexico or Central America of which more than half are likely to be undocumented (according to Fortune Magazine).
Cropdusters have the 3rd highest fatality rate among professions in the US. 90% of crop spraying in Japan is done using small unmanned helicopters.
ResearchMoz, in a 1/29/2014 report, projects agricultural robot market size to grow from $817 million in 2013 to $16.3 billion by 2020.
Thus the agricultural industry is in transition. And that transition differs country by country, state by state, region by region as well as by type of farming practiced: from primitive to conventional to precision to experimental. A little bit of everything is going on everywhere but the general trend worldwide is toward precision agriculture supplemented by advanced technologies including robotics.
Many factors are precipitating these changes in addition to global population growth and the cost and availability of labor: the diminishing availability and increasing cost of water, political and regulatory procedures and hold-ups; limited tillable acreage; better, cheaper and faster technological automation products; and climate change, to name just a few.
Modern farmers and ranchers are already high-tech. Digitally-controlled farm implements are regularly in use. There are partially and fully automatic devices for most aspects of agricultural functions from grafting to planting, from harvesting to sorting, packaging and boxing. Farmers use software systems and aerial survey maps and data to guide their field operations. They also use auto-steer systems included in many new tractors (or buy kits that do the same thing) which follow GPS and software guidance. Some farmers are already transitioning some of their operations to full autonomy. Thus forward-thinking farm owners today may be able to skip over slow, incremental improvements and jump directly to robotic and autonomous automation. But are the robots ready?
In a follow-up to my July, 2014 article “Will agricultural robots arrive in time to keep fruit and vegetable costs down?” this article profiles 27 of the many companies (from conglomerates to start-ups) attempting to provide robotic solutions for farming problems and explores what they are doing, when their products will be available, and at what cost.
[NOTE: From a list of 60 organizations involved with agricultural robotics, dairy was eliminated even though robotic milking systems are amazing and a growing business. Also eliminated were companies that didn't (or couldn't because they are publicly traded such as John Deere and CNH Industrial (Case/New Holland)) respond to my brief questionaire. Further, only one of the many university ag research facilities was profiled even though there's a lot of rich science under development; I wanted to focus on the here and now; not the future.]
Companies Mentioned sorted by primary function:
Harvesting and Tractors - Tractors do two things: provide guidance to the devices they are towing, and pulling power. Current tractors are huge and if they break down, the entire operation comes to a halt. Autonomous machines don't need operators and can operate around the clock. Thus tight operational windows can be achieved for seeding and other time-sensitive activities.
Agrobot
Energid
Clearpath Robotics
Autonomous Solutions
Wageningen UR
Agritronics
Kinze Manufacturing
Amazone-Bosch
AGCO Fendt
Rowbot
Robotic Harvesting
Planting, Pruning, Potting, Grafting and Nursery Operations
Harvest Automation
ISO Group
Helper Robotech
Conic Systems
Wall-Ye
Thinning and Weeding
Blue River Technologies
ecoRobotix
Vision Robotics
F Poulsen Engineering
UAS, Inspection, Data Collection and Data Manipulation - UAVs are only as good as the other precision ag equipment and systems; if there are no computers on the tractors or controllers on the implements towed, and if they can't talk to each other, UAS data collected is just pretty pictures.
Agribotix
PrecisionHawk
senseFly
Smart Implements - New implements incorporate advanced control systems and can respond to commands from the towing tractor or provide their own mobility and navigation.
Jaybridge Robotics
Autonomous Tractor
Agrobotics AutoProbe
Naio Technologies
Agriculture is big business in every country around the world. Thus this is a timely review of the progress to bring robotic automation to an already automated industry. Bottom line: lots of activity, much of which will be coming online in the next year or two, but little market penetration thus far.
Company: ISO Group, a Flier Systems company, Gameren, The Netherlands Website: www.isogroepmachinebouw.nl Product: RoBoPlant flower planting robot and fully and semi-autonomous grafting robots
ISO Group's flower planting robot RoBoPlant
Area of use: All over the EU Function: Semi and full automatic machinery for greenhouse or protected horticulture. Flower planting robotic system takes flats of peat seedlings, separates them and plants them in chosen patterns; Testing: Continual testing and development Availability: Began selling products in 2002 Price: N/A
Area of use: Hay producers in the US Function: Mowing hay. Can add modular engine power as needed by the type and size of implement. Will expand to other crops and other non-ag industries after mower begins shipping Testing: Continuously field testing Availability: Expect to come to market and begin shipping pre-orders in 2016 Price: Price expected to be 1/2 of similarly-powered tractors and implements
Company: Blue River Technologies, Sunnyvale, CA Website: http://www.bluerivert.com/ Product: LettuceBot2 (2nd generation) lettuce thinning
Blue River Technology 3-row LettuceBot2
Area of use: CA and AZ lettuce fields (covers 80% of US lettuce production) Function: Thinning and weed spraying of iceberg, romaine and leaf lettuce Testing: Recently completed field testing 3rd generation machine; selective weeding used to improve germination Availability: Began operating as a per-acre service in 2013 Price: Price per acre depends on the lettuce planting configuration but equates to a slight premium over manual labor costs
Company: Agrobot, Huelva, Spain Website: http://www.agrobot.com/ Product: Agrobot SW6010 and AGSHydro, a bed-on hydroponic growing system customized for strawberry growing and harvesting
Agrobot harvester
Agrobot hydroponic growing system
Area of use: Strawberry harvesting in Oxnard, CA Function: Ripe berry picking from raised hydroponic growing beds Testing: Will start final testing strawberry harvesting in January; have done seasonal testing for a few years Availability: Mid-2015 Price: $250,000 for a harvester with 60 robotic picking arms. Says one large berry farmer: “The Agrobot works on several investment paths. One where we harvest cheaper than we do today and another where we harvest fruit that there are not sufficient people for. In the latter case the Agrobot pays off instantly because without the ability to harvest we do not have a business (this is becoming more common).”
Area of use: US Midwest (CO, KA, MO, etc.) Function: Lease ag drones to co-ops, agronomists, crop consults, farm managers and big industrial farm corporations; produce and process hi-res images and maps using various sensors, and provide prescription maps to match the application of fertilizer to the places that need more (or less) Testing: Ongoing testing with pilot customers Availability: Began selling services in 2014 Price: About $8,000 for a season which includes training, drone use, stitched-together RGB and infrared images, crop health and prescription maps. Agribotix offers an image processing services contract with per acre charges for various maps and images over an annual contract period
Company: Wall-Ye, Macon, France Website: http://wall-ye.com Product: Wall-Ye 1000 mobile pruning robot
Wall-Ye 1000 Pruning Robot
Area of use: French grape vineyards pruning Function: Autonomous pruning Testing: Completed in 2013 Availability: For sale and as a service Price: $30,000 per robot
Area of use: Field testing in Switzerland; next year in Germany Function: A robotic platform for weeding of spaced-row cultures, which includes advanced weed recognition algorithms, fast robotic arms, advanced sensor technology, high energy efficiency, and wireless communications Testing: Currently with sugarbeet but plan to extend to colza, sunflower, corn and soya Availability: First machines available for sale by end of 2015 Price: About 15’000 EUR ($18,750) per robot
Company: Energid, Cambridge, MA Website: http://www.energid.com/experience/citrus-harvesting/ Product: Citrus harvester
Energid towed multi-arm citrus harvester
Area of use: Florida citrus orchards; oranges (early and late season) and grapefruit Function: Harvesting, initially for juice Testing: Will test again during seasons in Florida in 2015 and 2016 Availability: Expect to have initial product in late 2016 Price: System to cost $300,000-$400,000
Company: Harvest Automation, North Billerica, MA Website: http://www.harvestai.com/products Product: HV-100 mobile robot
Harvest Automation HV-100 Mobile Robot
Harvest Automation potted plant movement schema
Area of use: Nurseries (ornamental, berries, tomatoes, etc.) Function: Material handling, movement of containers, spacing. Testing: HV-100 testing completed Availability: Been selling since 2013 Price: $130,000 for a team of four robots to purchase. Harvest Automation also rents teams of four for $30K/3 months. The rental scheme has worked really well. All who have rented then subsequently purchased.
Company: Clearpath Robotics, Kitchener, ON, Canada Website:http://www.clearpathrobotics.com/grizzly/ Product: Grizzly RUV (cab-less robotic utility vehicle) and Husky UGV
Clearpath Grizzly RUV pulling implement
Area of use: Sold to university research facilities for ag applications development Function: Harvesting, mowing, hauling, research Testing: Testing asparagus farming with added laser scanner to identify appropriate stalks and a cutter inserted into the soil to cut the stalk below ground; hauling manure from chicken farms while cleaning out barns; detecting where cows urinate and then treating the area so grass can continue to grow; mowing inbetween orchard rows and hauling (hay/straw wagons back to barn and return so that the farmer doesn’t have to stop baling; hauling chemical refills to sprayer locations; hauling manure spreader) Availability: Early 2015 – at present only selling to academia and research organizations Price: $12,000 to $100,000 depending on configuration
Company: Autonomous Solutions (ASI), Petersboro, UT Website: http://www.asirobots.com/farming/ Product: Forge Robotic Platform, a kit for enabling a skid steer to operate autonomously or remotely controlled
ASI skid steer with cab in vineyard
ASI skid steer cab options
ASI Universal Vehicle Automation Kit
Area of use: Wine vineyards Function: Mowing and spraying functions Testing: Running field trials in CA and TX Availability: Mid-2015 Price: $75,000 - $150,000/unit (includes complete skid steer device and driving kit) depending on skid steer configuration
Company: Wageningen UR (University and Research center), Wageningen, The Netherlands and Agritronics, Sint Annaparochie, The Netherlands Website:http://www.wageningenur.nl/en/Expertise-Services/Research-Institutes/Wageningen-UR-Greenhouse-Horticulture/Research-themes/Advanced-Cultivation-and-Production-Systems/Subthemes/Computer-vision-and-robotics.htm and http://www.agritronics.nl/ Product: Research to supply intelligent systems for high value crops to commercial research partners/vendors
Wageningen UR cucumber harvesting robot
Area of use: Sweet peppers in The Netherlands, apples and grapes in Belgium, canopy spraying in Slovenia and spot spraying in Italy Function: Harvesting and spraying (spot and canopy) Testing: Yes, for sweet pepper, in July in a commercial greenhouse; for apples and grapes tests are now completed. For spraying, field tests have been completed. A new harvester, visual quality inspection and vision system for broccoli, is being developed with start-up Agritronics, Sint Annaparochie, The Netherlands Availability: “This will take several years” Price: Not available
Company: Vision Robotics, San Diego, CA Website: http://www.visionrobotics.com/ Product: Lettuce Thinner and Grape Vineyard Pruner
Vision Robotics 6-Line Lettuce Thinner
Vision Robotics grapevine pruner
Area of use: California Function: Grapevine pruning being tested; lettuce thinner available for sale Testing: Testing and development for grapevine pruner could be completed in less than 18 months depending on funding Availability: Lettuce thinner available now; pruner early 2016 Price: Lettuce thinner starts at $140,000 and upwards depending on configuration; pruner will likely sell for same amount
Company: Precision Hawk, Raleigh, NC Website: http://precisionhawk.com/ Product: Lancaster UAV with various plug and play sensor options plus Datamapper
PrecisionHawk Lancaster
PrecisionHawk Lancaster plug-in sensors
Area of use: Ontario, Canada Function: Providing data for crop researchers, consultants and farmers and ranchers to make farm management decisions Testing: Performing field tests under an SFOC from Transport Canada for a number of years. The majority of research and development happens in Ontario, Canada. Over the past six months have obtained a number of CoAs from the FAA to perform field tests and research across the United States in conjunction with universities such as NC State, Texas A&M, Kansas State and Cornell. Availability: 70% of sales are global. Have entered into a number of projects with US companies on foreign soil for specific research projects Price: Basic Lancaster platform is $15,000 plus sensors and other options
Area of use: 30 machines already at work in UK, the EU and Canada. Function: Weeding and thinning of lettuce, cabbage, fennel and onions Testing: In California (preceding expansion into North America) Availability: Started selling in 2011 after 8 years of development Price: The 5-row version sells in Europe for 80.000€ ($100,000)
Company: Kinze Manufacturing, Williamsburg, Iowa and Jaybridge Robotics, Cambridge, MA Website: http://www.kinze.com/ and http://www.jaybridge.com/ Product: Autonomous vehicle system for row crop harvesting
Kinze autonomous tractor and grain cart
Area of use: Iowa and Illinois corn and soybeans Function: Autonomously garner row crop grains from combine machines and bring it out of the field to the transport area Testing: Testing autonomous harvesting system with farmers since 2012; in 2013 three farmers in Iowa and Illinois leased systems without Kinze overseeing operation allowing the farmers to use the technology independently. The Kinze system marries off-the-shelf components, including GPS, radar, laser sensors and video cameras, with custom software that allows the system to react to field obstructions. It was developed in partnership with Jaybridge Robotics. Availability: Kinze is not currently selling the harvesting system but is working towards full commercialization soon Price: The price has not yet been set for the system which includes the autonomous driving kit for the tractor and grain cart plus the navigation, path planning, harvester communication and control software systems
Company: Agrobotics, Little Rock, AR Website: http://www.agrobotics.com/ Product: AutoProbe soil sampling system
Agrobotics AutoProbe
Area of use: Midwest US farm belt Function: AutoProbe is a towed device which directs the driving of the towed vehicle to enable consistent, uniform and accurately distanced soil samples. The device is capable of pulling over 2,500 cores per hour Testing: Tested for 7 years in the Mississippi Delta in the Midwest US Availability: Available now as both a service and a sale; live demos at various US ag shows Price: Not available
Area of use: Work on corn and wheat experimental plots in Germany Function: Autonomous omnidirectional field robots working in "flocks" for multiple purposes Testing: Multiple-purpose lightweight robot for weeding, applying fertilizer, inspection being developed with Robert Bosch GmbH Availability: Only two built; no plans announced for commercialization at this time Price: No information available
Company: Helper Robotech, Gimhae City, Korea Website: http://helpersys.co.kr/ Product: BoniRob field robot
Helper Robotech fruit and vegetable grafting robot
Area of use: Korea, Japan and China Function: Grafting is most common in European and Asian countries as well as in greenhouses worldwide where crop rotation is no longer an option and available land is under intense use. Robotic grafting is relatively new although mechanically-assisted grafting has been going on for a long time. Testing: Unknown Availability: Available now Price: Unknown
Company: AGCO Fendt, Deluth, GA Website:http://www.agcocorp.com/GuideConnect.aspx Product: GuideConnect, SectionControl and VarioGuide
AGCO Fendt GuideConnect - driverless 2nd system
AGCO Fendt VarioGuide auto steering system
Area of use: Global Function:SectionControl integrates various data and enables fully automatic section control via GNSS for ISOBUS-capable sprayers, spreaders and seeders; the VarioGuide night and day auto steering system; and the new GuideConnectin which two tractors act as a unit where one vehicle is unmanned Testing: GuideConnect is still under development with no known date or area for availability; the following vehicle doesn't have its own obstacle detection which may be why they haven't yet released the product Availability: All but GuideConnect are available now in the EU and US Price: Not available for all 3 systems
Company: Rowbot, Minneapolis, MN Website: http://rowbot.com Product: Rowbot is a self-driving, multi-use platform that travels between rows of corn, ex: applying nitrogen fertilizer in sync with corn needs. It can also collect sensor data to inform both current and future work. GPS and several sensors keep the robot from trampling the crop
Rowbot in cornfield. Rowbots work in teams to apply nitrogen fertilizer in sync with precision needs
Area of use: US Corn Belt Function: Rowbot travels between corn rows - often under the leaf canopy - to apply nitrogen fertilizer and also to seed cover crops Testing: Working in conjunction with Carnegie Robotics on development of the Rowbot. Availability: Began test marketing this year for in-season nitrogen and cover crop seeding services; plan to widen scope of services in 2015 Price: No information available about the cost of the service
Company: senseFly, Cheseaux-Lausanne, Switzerland Website: http://www.sensefly.com Product: eBee Ag
senseFly eBee Ag
senseFly eBee Ag autopilot system and carrying case
Area of use: Global Function: The eBee ag system includes eMotion software and a carrying case. The software and cameras enable 2 cm per pixel resolution and produce 3D maps and overlays as well as the capability to lay out (and simulate) a flight path for up to 45 minutes of flying time Testing: Unknown Availability: The eBee ag system is available now Price: About $12,000 for the complete system
Area of use: Global Function: Enables grafting of vegetables and other greenhouse plants Testing: Unknown Availability: Now Price: Not available
Company: Naio Technologies, Toulouse, France Website: http://naio-technologies.com/ Product: Naio Technologies Oz field robot
Naio Technologies Oz field robot
Area of use: Mostly in France Testing: Testing next generation of Oz robot (with improved navigation capabilities) in real field conditions in France Function: The Oz robot serves as an autonomous electric tractor which can be used for weeding and as a transport from harvesters to accumulation points. Oz operates as a self-powered robotic implement rather than a towed implement Availability: Began selling in 2013 Price: Initially robots are being rented to help customers get familiarized with the product line and to help optimize the utilization. Units are renting/leasing for $315 to $475 per month depending on configuration
Company: Robotic Harvesting, Simi Valley, CA Website: http://www.roboticharvesting.com Product: Strawberry harvester, data collector and mobile platform
Robotic Harvesting Strawberry Harvester
Area of use: California Testing: Ongoing in California Function: Autonomous mobile device which takes stereovision photos to locate any fruit or vegetable in 3D space and then uses a robot arm to pick and place on a conveyor selected berries Availability: Unknown Price: Unknown
Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report. After selling his business and retiring from 25+ years as a provider of computer direct marketing and consulting to the Democratic National Committee, major presidential and other campaigns and initiatives, he has energetically pursued a new career in researching and investing in robotics. In 2013 he co-founded Robo-stox™ LLC (renamed to ROBO Global) which developed a tracking index for the robotics industry: the ROBO Global™ Robotics & Automation Index.
