ROBOT TECHNOLOGY ▶▶▶
days will help increase yields. It predicts that spotting problems and taking action at the optimum time will result in incremental in- creases in yield of about 5% from better weed control; 4% from improved pest/disease treatments; 5% from optimum establishment; 6% from better use of fertiliser and nutrition, 2% from harvest aid and 3% from optimising the drilling date.
Endurance is the key factor While researching, Fred Miller considered oth- er options. Drones and quadcopters, he says, need a pilot, have battery limitations and pro- duce extremely sparse maps and, in many are- as, can be used only to gather data. UAVs (small aircraft) do increase coverage but the resolution is too low to make a big impact and, again, they require a pilot and are not suitable for applications. Wheeled robots can be costly and provide coverage of only 3 ha/day. He feels they can also be difficult to deploy, weighing 100kg, and they are hard to deploy in growing crops. While they can operate au- tonomously, they do need close monitoring and may not cope with all soil conditions. They can, however, be used for applications of in- puts as well as cultural weed control.
“The dominance of drones is driving their de- ployment in agriculture. But many develop- ments are compromises made to adapt what’s currently available to suit farming’s needs, rather than a specifically designed and
HayBeeSee looks set to jump ahead further
HayBeeSee received it’s first funding at the end of 2017, with its first jump flights starting in early 2019. Now moving to the next stage of manufacture, it is looking to receive £3 million in Venture Capital. It is also opening a farmer crowd-funding campaign, creating a new way to involve customers. As well as eq- uity, this will also include an option to swap the investment for the product later down the line, thus minimising risk and providing trial data and product demos for free to farm- ers who invest. Info at
www.haybeesee.com
26 ▶ FUTURE FARMING | 22 May 2020
This is what a crop walker will see by eye (right), 1 m above the ground. The CropHopper weed map spotted and mapped early-stage blackgrass, which was missed by the crop walker.
purpose-built robot,” explains Fred. The main problem for drones and quadcopters is that they are extremely inefficient – high losses of 75% are quite normal. “It’s almost impossible to improve efficiency aerodynamically. If you want longer endurance, you need a larger bat- tery, which increases weight and in the end means it won’t fly for any longer.”
With his background in aerospace engineering he knew there is unlikely to be a solution to this problem for a long time. “I could imagine lots of applications and opportunities for
quadcopters and drones in agriculture. But they do have many drawbacks and there’s a huge problem with endurance – they can only operate for 20-30 mins on one charge. There are also strict operational rules in many coun- tries and these include a requirement for an operator to be present and they cannot fly be- yond the line of sight. Aerial applications, in- cluding those delivered from drones, are also banned in the EU and in many other countries.”
Check
www.futurefarming.com for video of the CropHopper
The hopping mechanism is al- most 100% effi- cient, compared with a drone’s 5%- 15% efficiency, and it is overall a much more robust sys- tem. This also ena- bles it to carry out cultural weed con- trol with a rotary hoe as well as spot spraying.
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