This weed destroying tank-bot eliminates the need for chemical pesticide in agriculture

With advancements in the field of robotics finally yielding practical results, the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems has gained increasing momentum over the last couple years. This year, one of the most thought-provoking robots capable of fulfilling a real-life need is the BoniRob, otherwise known as the “Vision-Based High-Speed Manipulation for Robotic Ultra-Precise Weed Control.”

Developed by Deepfield Robotics, BoniRob is an agricultural robot that autonomously identifies and eradicates weeds at the rate of one per tenth of a second, considerably faster than humans and more environmentally sustainable than dumping heaps of deadly chemicals. Given the large-scale nature of agriculture, the only practical method of eliminating weeds off of a large surface of land within a reasonable time is by distributing pesticide via airplane or tractor. While efficient in its killing power, the chemical byproducts inevitably seep into the soil, and thus, our food.

The safest alternative is to straight out yank the weeds out of the ground, but again, this isn't possible when your farmland covers tens, if not hundreds, of acres. Deepfield Robotics proposes another solution: why not simply smash the weed directly into the ground? This approach is faster and perfectly suited for robots.

As you can see in the video above, BoniRob is especially well-suited to the task, using a one centimeter wide stamping tool that drives the weeds three centimeters into the ground. Larger weeds that survive the initial stomp are continuously hammer within a cycle time of under 100 ms. So efficient is it at deciphering the weeds from the rest of the crop, that BoniRob had no issues removing about 20 weeds per meter growing along a patch of carrots planted at 2 cm apart. Cranked to its full capacity of 43 weeds per meter, Bonirob plucks weeds at a rate of 3.7 cm/s, but at lower weed densities, the system can cover 9 cm/s.

What's more, BoniRob autonomously navigates and adapts to different terrain configurations, and contains enough onboard power to run for up to 24 hours a time, or untilB it reaches it fills its maximum cargo space of 150 kilograms.

 BoniRob will eventually be available commercially in a modular state, permitting customers to procure whatever module is most fitting for their particular land and task. For now, the robot remains a prototype until DeepField finishes conducting additional testing.

Source: IEEE Spectrum