France probably is the country with the most agricultural and field robots sold and in operation.
robots clearly aim to replace today’s tractors and machines at some point in time. If we go back 50 years, we’ve seen many trac- tor manufacturers around the world. Most of them have been integrated into or acquired by the tractor giants, while others have died a si- lent death. It will be very interesting to see what the robot manufacturer landscape will look like in 50 years from now. France is probably the country with the most agricultural and field robots sold and operat- ing. According to ZDNet, the country recently passed the 10,000 mark for ag robots. Milking robots and other animal husbandry robots ac- count for nearly 99% of this number, but there are also at least 100 robots for weed manage- ment and 10 robots being used by viticulture entrepreneurs. Other countries or regions with a high concentration of field robots are Australia, California, China, Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.
Most are used for weed elimination As far as robot activities are concerned, most field robots in the catalogue are intended for eliminating weeds in row crops. Various factors influence this popularity, such as sustainable
food production, governmental and societal pressure on the use of herbicides and − strengthened by travel restrictions and lock- downs due to the Covid-19 pandemic − a lack of (skilled) labour to manually weed in organic cropping systems. Most of the weeding robots rely on mechanical weed removal to try and eliminate herbicides completely, whereas oth- ers only spot spray weeds to reduce herbicide use by up to 95%. But there are also tests be- ing done with targeted electrocution of weeds and elimination with laser, light and micro- waves. High-value crops such as several types of lettuce, strawberry, (blue) berries, oranges/ citrus fruits and winery grapes seem to pres- ent the best business cases for weeding ro- bots. Especially where steep terrain is danger- ous for tractor drivers and field workers. There are also quite a few field robots that can take over activities from tractors, including soil cultivation, seeding, crop care and mow- ing. Sometimes followed by open field har- vest robots for produce such as apples, aspar- agus and strawberries. Speaking of which, two out of four featured and commercially available harvest robots pick strawberries. And in the near future we will also see harvest
robots (and even harvest drones) for broccoli, citrus fruits, cauliflower, kiwi fruit, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, mangos, water melon and others. The most remarkable robot in our catalogue is surely the autonomous rock picker.
What do they cost? For mobile field robots prices start at around € 10,000. Size seems to correspond to the in- vestment required, as the smallest robots are also the cheapest ones. Yet a basic starting price of € 10,000 can quickly increase to € 30,000 for an operational version. For that same amount in dollars, you can also buy a fully operational unmanned orchard manage- ment machine for spraying, mowing, trans- portation and collecting data. The most af- fordable robot in the overview costs as little as US$ 2,995, but this is not a mobile field robot. By far the highest investment, which is for the largest field robot in the overview, is US$ 700,000 (about € 590,000) for an auto- mated platform unit for seeding, spreading and spraying crops. This price however in- cludes a custom seed drill, fertiliser spreader and sprayer.
▶ FUTURE FARMING | 20 November 2020 21
Curious about the Field Robots Catalogue? Visit:
http://misset.com/field-robots/
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