Researchers are exploring how machine learning, drones and robots can be applied in agriculture in order to increase yield. Image source: Shutterstock (#383477656)
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute are working on a project that combines machine learning, drones and robots that work autonomously to help farmers grow more food with fewer resources. Dubbed FarmView, the project originated with the realization that current food production is too resource intensive to support the 9.6 billion people that will be inhabiting our planet by 2050.
An autonomous ground robot not only takes visual surveys of crop fields, and predicts the expected fruit yield. It maintains the optimal ecological balance between leaf area and fruit load by pruning or thinning the plants. Drones for macroscale measurements and AI to enhance to create improved variants of crops complete the system that is slowly approaching full scale operation.
Digital TrendsWhy not share this article?
