Robot farming pioneer wants to grow Scots input

Scotland’s arable farmers are being invited to help develop a range of machines designed to bring the benefits of robotic systems to the cropgrowing sector.

The invitation has come from the Small Robot Company, a British agritech start-up based in Shropshire.

As the name implies, the business hopes to replace large tractors with smaller and lighter machines which can deliver information at individual plant level allowing the careful targeting of inputs such as fertilisers and sprays.

Thecompany’sco–founder, farmer Sam Watsonjones, said that technology was changing working practices across all industries – but many areas of farming were still stuck in the analogue age and failing to take any benefit from the high degree of precision which would be possible with smaller machines.

“The potential for efficiency here is phenomenal,” said Watson-jones.

“Robotics is only the first piece of the puzzle in a much bigger picture – the fully-fledged digital farm will comprise a much broaderecosystemencompassing robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles, and

0 The Small Robot Company is focused firmly on farming artificial intelligence. Ultimately, we’re looking at the Digital Transformation of Agriculture.”

He said that the company was building on 15 years of research by Professor Simon Blackmore, the world’s leading expert in precision farming, and wanted to hold extensive consultations with farmers. “Robotic technology is coming; but we believe it must be by farmers, for farmers, and not an imposition.”

He said to this end the Small Robot Company was looking for Scottish farmers to help develop the service by joining its farmer advisory group. “Our company is building the world’s most detailed living data model for its artificial intelligence driven Neural Network to exploit.”

He said that Scottish farmers could join the AI training partner programme which involved scanning wheat crops with the company’s monitoring robot.

“We need access to wheat crops to record how they grow, and the soil they are in. This will enable our monitoring robots to learn what a healthy versus unhealthy plant versus a weed looks like, in all stages of development, in different soil conditions and diverse environments.”

He said this would help develop a programme which would allow the autonomous care of each individual plant – allowing it to be given exactly the amount of nutrients required, with no waste.

Watson Jones said that robust per-plant data would allow a ten-fold improvement in decision making.

“And with robotics eliminating the blanket application of chemicals, these could be slashed by as much as 95 per cent.”