Robotic farmhand features at Field Days
Robots may not be putting their human counterparts out to pasture just yet, but they are becoming increasingly useful tools for the modern farmer.
Massey University researcher Ian Yule and his team will demonstrate the latest prototype of their ag-hort robot at the Central District Field Days this weekend.
The semi-autonomous robot was designed to help farmers focus their attention where it’s most needed, by doing simple tasks and collecting information on everything from stock movements to nutrient levels.
It was originally designed by a team at the Albany campus to check on electrical substations for Transpower, but has been adapted in the past three years.
‘‘We thought there’s a lot of different uses for this kind of robot in the agriculture and horticulture industries.’’
The robot can do a variety of tasks depending on the sensors and equipment attached to the base platform.
It can be used for anything from
"We thought there's a lot of different uses for this kind of robot in the agriculture and horticulture industries." Ian Yule, Massey researcher
automatically grading fruit and finding the best time to harvest from each plant, to weeding and delivering specific spray-mixes to different sections of a crop.
There was already some commercial interest in the robot, and Yule expected it to go on the market within the next couple of years.
Yule said farmers were already beginning to use drones to do similar tasks, like surveying stock and monitoring pasture growth.
Robots had several advantages over drones in New Zealand conditions.
Wind could be a problem for drones and robots can get a closer look at crops or fences, and can be equipped with heavier, more expensive sensors.
Federated Farmers Manawatu president James Stewart said technology like this was gradually becoming an important part of modern farming and anything that saved time held appeal.
‘‘It’s the way of the future. [Robots] are just another tool that will help with what we do.
‘‘The only thing I can see that will slow that down is the initial cost and that will come down over time as the technology becomes more mainstream.’’
Massey’s ag-hort robot was expected to sell for $20,000 once it went into production.