The problem is that a farm is a dirty, corrosive, and stochastic place.
Equipment needs to be tough as nails and able to deal with each unique farmers challenges.
Things I see on the horizon :
Robotic weeding is going to be a HUGE deal. Improved robotic harvesting also. These both are almost entirely reliant on robust computer vision that can survive days in the field.
Drones are going to also be a huge deal. Imagine a quad copter that can go out and sample your 1000 hectares of fields, spotting disease or nutrient deficiency from images taken from above.
The promise is big, but integrating tech seamlessly is going to be damn hard.
"Drones are going to also be a huge deal. Imagine a quad copter that can go out and sample your 1000 hectares of fields, spotting disease or nutrient deficiency from images taken from above."
Comments
Yeah, definitely.
The problem is that a farm is a dirty, corrosive, and stochastic place.
Equipment needs to be tough as nails and able to deal with each unique farmers challenges.
Things I see on the horizon :
Robotic weeding is going to be a HUGE deal. Improved robotic harvesting also. These both are almost entirely reliant on robust computer vision that can survive days in the field.
Drones are going to also be a huge deal. Imagine a quad copter that can go out and sample your 1000 hectares of fields, spotting disease or nutrient deficiency from images taken from above.
The promise is big, but integrating tech seamlessly is going to be damn hard.
"Drones are going to also be a huge deal. Imagine a quad copter that can go out and sample your 1000 hectares of fields, spotting disease or nutrient deficiency from images taken from above."
I believe that one is already a reality. Some quick Googling turns up: http://www.precisiondrone.com/drones-for-agriculture.html I'm pretty sure I saw a TV special too.
The FAA recently approved drones for agriculture use: http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/faa-officially-permits-d...
You don't even need a drone for that: http://www.terravion.com/
How about robotic pest control?