The agricultural industry is heavily involved in researching and developing artificial intelligence. Companies are experimenting with high-tech tools that can help farmers save time and money, while at the same time reducing environment-harming chemicals. One of these companies is ecoRobotix of Switzerland. It created a robot equipped with AI and cameras to identify all plants on a farm. The robot has four wheels to carry it through the fields in search of weeds. Computer-controlled arms then lower and spray the weeds with small amounts of herbicide.
Company officials say the robot can fully operate on its own for up to 12 hours a day while being powered by the sun. It uses the same kind of sensor and positioning technology used to guide driverless vehicles. A farmer can also control it through a smartphone.
The co-founder of ecoRobotix, Aurelien Demaurex, says the farm robot can kill weeds using 20 times less herbicide than traditional methods. This is because the system uses exactly the right amount of chemical in the exact place required to kill the weeds.
