THE first Victorian trials of a robot that can automatically spray and remove weeds were undertaken on commercial vegetable farms in Clyde and Lindenow last week.
As well as weeding, the Robot for Intelligent Perception and Precision Application (RIPPATM), also provides important crop intelligence information like monitoring crop growth and estimating yield, accurate paddock-wide soil moisture levels and detecting and removing foreign objects.
University of Sydney’s Professor Salah Sukkarieh, Director of Research and Innovation at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics, presented an update to Victorian vegetable growers at a National Vegetable Extension Network event.
“Automation allows real improvements in farm productivity and efficiency,” he said.
“This can include reducing input costs such as chemicals through only applying it to the plants that need it, or being able to continuously operate after workers would have usually gone home for the day.
“While RIPPA was only developed relatively recently it uses some well-established technology from its predecessor system the Ladybird.
“This engineering prototype allowed us to research and prove what worked in crop intelligence and crop manipulation.
“We’re now testing and refining this technology in a commercial farm setting.”
Adam Schreurs, a celery grower from Clyde, said the real potential benefit for them would be from the crop intelligence and being able to know what the crop is doing at every stage of development.
“This will allow us to make better decisions,” he said.
“For me, being able to weed at precisely the right time and reduce labour costs would have a huge advantage.
“This could make weed management much easier in the long-run,” said another grower, Peter Cochrane from Devon Meadows.
The trials come soon after the opening of the Horticulture Innovation Centre for Robotics and Intelligent Systems, located at the University of Sydney.
This centre is set to become the hub in horticulture robotics in Australia and develop world-leading technologies.
The robot and sensing systems will continue to be tested in different crops and conditions in Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania.
“The aim is to have an affordable robot available on-farm in the near future,” Professor Sukkarieh said.
