Pilotless helicopters and robots to lead fight against weeds

A new project supported by the Danish Strategic Research Council aims to substantially reduce the amount of pesticides used on farmers' fields
It may sound slightly far-fetched, but intelligent pilotless helicopters guiding robots armed with spray guns could be the way to achieve a substantial reduction in the volume of pesticides currently sprayed on farmers' fields using conventional spray boom technology. Aalborg and Copenhagen University certainly think so, and are now embarking on a 3 year project supported by DKK 14.3m (USD 2.7m) by the Danish Strategic Research Council, reports professional journal Ingeniøren (The Engineer).

Anders la Cour-Harbo, a robotics expert at Aalborg University, told Ingeniøren: "There is a need for radical new thinking instead of just hitching a new machine onto the tractor. We reckon that we could use 50 to 90 percent less pesticides dependent on where exactly the weeds are positioned in a field." The idea is that the weeds should be targeted more precisely using airborne GPS monitoring to detect the precise position of weeds in a field rather than spraying the entire crop area.

The hardware for the new idea comprises two or three small pilotless helicopters separately equipped with a multispectral camera and a laser range scanner to detect weed placement and plot an access course for a robotic sprayer. Copenhagen University already has experience in camera-based plant identification, while Aalborg University has strong competences in robotics. The former will develop an image processing system to identify the weeds, while the latter will create the software for robot navigation and task allocation so that several robots can work together on precision weed-spraying duties.