A robot that monitors agricultural areas could reduce the workload of farmers considerably. Image source: Shutterstock (#449895727)
A research team from the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a robot that travels over fields to monitor crops using a high-wire. Tarzan the Robot was built for high-throughput phenotyping and experimentally evaluates plant attributes to draw conclusions on, for instance, drought tolerance.
This process could automate what is a very labor intensive process for farmers. Tarzan collects data using sensors, and then transmits it to a base station where the findings are processed and analyzed. This way, farmers could inspect their crops from home instead of walking through whole fields.
The team is hoping to develop Tarzan further to be powered by sunlight, as the robot operates in the open anyway.
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