Farming robot kills 100k weeds per hour with lasers • Hacker News Board

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

#261

Post by Qworg » Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 4:47 PM UTC

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?

Depends on the laser(s) and the weeds in question. Deep rooted weeds require different IR/UV than broadleaf.

They actually kill them because they cook the root. That's ALSO why it has to be autonomous - it can't be done at a run.

We worked on this when I was at MTD, but I think they abandoned the project after I left.

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

#262

Post by burnished » Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 4:50 PM UTC

linuxftw wrote: post #195

DennisP wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but it seems less dystopian than soaking vast fields with millions of pounds of neurotoxins, like we do today.

Those neurotoxins are perfectly safe. You can drink a cup of glyphosate and you'll be fine. There are no long term side effects, and sure the only studies are carried out by the manufacturer, but we know we can trust them. Sound crazy? Now, pretend it's an injection.

Hey, I get it, needles are scary. You don't need to make stuff up to justify a completely rational fear of getting jabbed with a needle.

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

#263

Post by efitz » Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 4:54 PM UTC

Hey, let’s make an autonomous robot, give it a high powered laser, and program it to seek out and destroy organic life. What could possibly go wrong?

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

#264

Post by anticristi » Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 4:55 PM UTC

So excited to finally hear an application of AI that has potential to improve human life quality. I was starting to worry that all that AI engineers will train is lawyers-turned-cats models.

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

#265

Post by SubiculumCode » Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 4:56 PM UTC

I wonder why targeting with machine learning is more efficient that zapping every square centimeter (besides the planted region)? Downside, more electricity. Upside, much faster probably?

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

#266

Post by gdubs » Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 4:57 PM UTC

Qworg wrote: post #261

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?

Depends on the laser(s) and the weeds in question. Deep rooted weeds require different IR/UV than broadleaf. They actually kill them because they cook the root. That's ALSO why it has to be autonomous - it can't be done at a run. We worked on this when I was at MTD, but I think they abandoned the project after I left.

That’s very cool. Still working on farm space projects?

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

#267

Post by SubiculumCode » Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 4:57 PM UTC

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.

I wonder why it can't it be done via location? Where we planted, vs where we did not plant.

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

#268

Post by bartread » Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 4:58 PM UTC

anticristi wrote: post #264

So excited to finally hear an application of AI that has potential to improve human life quality. I was starting to worry that all that AI engineers will train is lawyers-turned-cats models.

You make a fair point but I'd be lying if I said I'm entirely comfortable with the idea of a robot armed with lasers no matter how putatively benign its stated purpose. It's in my nature to worry about what might happen if one (or many) of these things were hacked.

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

#269

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 5:01 PM UTC

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.

[deleted]

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

#270

Post by binrec » Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 5:01 PM UTC

CoastalCoder wrote: post #211

gdubs wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on the weed. Overall you’re going to put pressure on it. With conventional fields like the ones pictured in this article, there’s often no ground cover. If you have a ground cover (say, clover) and you’re defoliating the weeds all the time, then you have a chance. But some weeds, like invasive blackberries here in the Pacific Northwest, are extremely resilient and will shrug off defoliation.

Thanks for the info! > But some weeds, like invasive blackberries here in the Pacific Northwest, are extremely resilient and will shrug off defoliation. How does that work? I thought all plants (by definition?) need photosynthesis to stay alive in non-dormant states. Do blackberry plants have some way of getting energy other than photosynthesis in their leaves?

> I thought all plants (by definition?) need photosynthesis to stay alive in non-dormant states.

There are parasitic plants that don't photosynthesize at all, like the Monotropoideae and Rafflesiaceae.

Among photosynthesizing plants, rhubarb can be "forced" (grown in complete darkness to reduce bitterness and get an earlier harvest), and potatoes can sprout if left in the pantry for too long.