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Farming robot kills 100k weeds per hour with lasers

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Re: Farming robot kills 100k weeds per hour with lasers

#121

Post by pkdpic_y9k »

piyh wrote: post #81
motohagiography wrote: post #56

Given where ML and CV are today, I'd bet on open source models trained on weeds within 3-5 years. This company can scale, but their unit price is going to plummet. Also, it sounds like they're using cameras, where it's concievable that other future sensors could be more efficient. An iteration of this with higher resolution cameras and small flying drones seems like an intuitive next step. This is a super interesting…

Drones do not seem like a logical step for me. I'm not a laser expert, but seems like the energy storage needed to kill hundreds to thousands of something with light is heavier than flying would realistically allow. Wheels and tracks are what farming is built around, no need to literally reinvent the wheel here.

Good point, but you havent thought of the *millions of tiny mirrors* they'd obviously be using :)

Re: Farming robot kills 100k weeds per hour with lasers

#122

Post by janglytim »

ashtonbaker wrote: post #14
frankzander wrote: post #3

Better farming methods and farmers will probably not need such and invention. I think about no drill farming. This "weed problem" comes from a farming not going with but against the nature. So it's thought that technology will solve problems which are no problems if methods to farm are optimized.

I'm all about regenerative agriculture, permaculture, etc. But I've never seen a solution to weeds other than to spend a lot of manual labor removing them. Is there a method that reduces the number of weeds that appear, or reduces the need to remove them? I tend to think that solutions like this offer the possibility of the best of both worlds - automated (and therefore scalable) agriculture without the chemical depe…

What about using animals to help with weed control[1], for example ducks used in rice paddies[2] or weeder geese?

Also mulching and growing cover crops alongside and in succession with our crops [3] prevents weeds without as much labor as traditional wedding. For example planting clover around crops, which stays short and fixes nitrogen while competing with weeds.

I wish we would spend more time rethinking our industrial farming practices, rather than try to prop them up with diesel burning robots.

[1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236942635_Grazing_A... [2] https://web-japan.org/trends01/article/021022sci_r.html [3] https://eorganic.org/node/2535

Re: Farming robot kills 100k weeds per hour with lasers

#123

Post by simon1ltd »

jmacd wrote: post #85
the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Farming equipment is typically fuel based. And this appears to be the case for this robot as well: it uses Diesel.

This is in no small part because of the massive subsidization of fuel for farming in most countries. Not only is the fuel for agriculture heavily discounted, but what you do pay can be written off against your revenues. Same with most fisheries. If governments want these sectors to go green, that is going to be a very big and painful band-aid to peel off.

You do realize that deducting the cost of producing a product is entirely normal and expected behavior right?

It’s not some special loophole.

If you use $1000 of electricity to harvest your crops, that $1000 would be equally as deductible because it’s just a cost of production?

Re: Farming robot kills 100k weeds per hour with lasers

#125

Post by MayeulC »

motohagiography wrote: post #56

Given where ML and CV are today, I'd bet on open source models trained on weeds within 3-5 years. This company can scale, but their unit price is going to plummet. Also, it sounds like they're using cameras, where it's concievable that other future sensors could be more efficient. An iteration of this with higher resolution cameras and small flying drones seems like an intuitive next step. This is a super interesting…

I don't think you really need AI/CV if you have multispectral or full-spectrum imaging. Different species will have different absorption/emission at multiple wavelength. This makes it easy to identify crops, and seems to be commonly used for aerial imaging[1-3].

That kind of sensor is expensive though, and while you could probably do it for cheap with something like a DLP wheel (edit: or an array of different light emitters) plus a B/W camera, ML might be more price-effective, though probably more error-prone, so it isn't a given if you want a high match rate.

Also, isn't this a fire hazard?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperspectral_imaging#Agricult...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multispectral_image

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full-spectrum_photography

Re: Farming robot kills 100k weeds per hour with lasers

#126

Post by adwn »

pjmorris wrote: post #9
MattRix wrote: post #4

It seems like a good idea, but won’t many types of weeds just grow back if you don’t also remove their roots?

That's not a problem for the people selling the robot.

> That's not a problem for the people selling the robot.

Yes, I'm sure their customers will buy expensive machines that don't work. Haha, farmers are dumb, am I right?

Ugh.

Re: Farming robot kills 100k weeds per hour with lasers

#127

Post by ed25519FUUU »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #96

If they can make it a little bit more robust, there would be a huge market for removing toxic plants. I was just quoted over $1000 to remove poison ivy from a 500 sq ft. wooded area of property. My satisfaction was not guaranteed.

Just buy or rent a goat. Those things love poison ivy.

Re: Farming robot kills 100k weeds per hour with lasers

#128

Post by capitainenemo »

le-mark wrote: post #113
motohagiography wrote: post #56

Given where ML and CV are today, I'd bet on open source models trained on weeds within 3-5 years. This company can scale, but their unit price is going to plummet. Also, it sounds like they're using cameras, where it's concievable that other future sensors could be more efficient. An iteration of this with higher resolution cameras and small flying drones seems like an intuitive next step. This is a super interesting…

It doesn’t need to recognize every possible weed species, just “crop of interest / not crop of interest”. A much simpler but still valuable task.

A real world useful variant of Not Hotdog. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14636228

Re: Farming robot kills 100k weeds per hour with lasers

#129

Post by pkdpic_y9k »

gdubs wrote: post #120

Love seeing advances in this space. I have an 80 acre farm and I’m waiting for an autonomous slope mower. Question about this tech is, does it really kill weeds, or just defoliate them? Like, is this laser strong enough to get down to the roots, which are often very deep with weeds? If not, I’m wondering why lasers instead of something mechanical that can corkscrew down and tear up the entire root?

Had the same thought, also totally agree. Looking forward to seeing more advancements in this field. Pun intended.

Re: Farming robot kills 100k weeds per hour with lasers

#130

Post by evanlivingston »

gdubs wrote: post #120

Love seeing advances in this space. I have an 80 acre farm and I’m waiting for an autonomous slope mower. Question about this tech is, does it really kill weeds, or just defoliate them? Like, is this laser strong enough to get down to the roots, which are often very deep with weeds? If not, I’m wondering why lasers instead of something mechanical that can corkscrew down and tear up the entire root?

Is there a reason you need to mow your slope?
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