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Earlier quoted context omitted.
This video of punching the weeds looks promising, but just a thought: maybe you could focus sunlight to burn them? :)
While it would be much more energy-efficient, such a process is bound to have a very low rate of weeds destroyed / minute.
This is cool but I have to disagree with this phrase from the article.... "Given the scale of farming today, treating weeds chemically is really the only practical way for humans to keep them under control". It's the easiest way to keep weeds under control but not the only practical way. (Source: I worked for the weed science department (yes, they had one at my school) while at university.) Here are some other method…
I remember a crusty old guy in Florida showing me his watermelon field that was full of weeds. I said something about it and he said the weeds actually shaded the watermelons keeping them from sunburning and he had no intention of removing them. I don't know if this is necessarily true or if he just didn't feel like doing anything about it but apparently he didn't think the weeds were causing economic harm and there were a lot of watermelons in spite of the weeds.
http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Tutorials/UnderstandingNodes
http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Tutorials/UnderstandingTopics
http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Tutorials/UnderstandingServicesParam...
That's brilliant. What about using a laser to destroy the weeds?
I suspect this would result in rather superficial weed destruction, since the roots underground would be unharmed and would cause the weed to regrow a few days later. Unrooting the weeds definitely sounds more reliable to me.
Around here, we have an invasive species called scotch broom. If you cut off the plant at ground level, it will grow back. But if you cut it off after it flowers, it'll die. Mowing it flat regularly will also kill it.
Why garden when your neighbors will have amazing gardens cheaply designed and looked after by robots.
And it'll be smart, it'll know exactly how many weeds to leave so it doesn't look to perfect, exactly when to plant and pollinate, order things online when needed.
It's a good example of how play in the future will also go the way of jobs. Why garden when your neighbors will have amazing gardens cheaply designed and looked after by robots. And it'll be smart, it'll know exactly how many weeds to leave so it doesn't look to perfect, exactly when to plant and pollinate, order things online when needed.
I don't see it detecting any actual weeds? The detection is just targets and the demonstration of punching the weeds is stationary. Which leaves out the key challenge - distinguishing between weed & crop.
I agree, but to be fair, you could even skip that and just have a remote pilot looking at the rolling video feed and clicking on targets. It still beats having people actually walking under the sun and ruining their backs to pull out weed, or blanketing with herbicide. I'm not so sure punching is a great solution though. Weed is incredibly good at reforming from very very small bits left standing.
Seriously though, you're right, even if it requires a human in the loop it's still a huge benefit. Farms could even use remote workers to do the identification.
The architecture of the ROS system is worth looking at if you haven't seen it. Everything has a URL and processes communicate using YAML messages by publishing or osubscribing to topics. (Its very simple but a bit more liberating than REST!) http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Tutorials/UnderstandingNodes http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Tutorials/UnderstandingTopics http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Tutorials/UnderstandingServicesParam...
It's a good example of how play in the future will also go the way of jobs. Why garden when your neighbors will have amazing gardens cheaply designed and looked after by robots. And it'll be smart, it'll know exactly how many weeds to leave so it doesn't look to perfect, exactly when to plant and pollinate, order things online when needed.
That's brilliant. What about using a laser to destroy the weeds?
Lasers, especially fast ones will only handle superficial stuff.