Page 13 - 11 Cotton SA March 2017

AgBots are also designed to work in that measure key indicators about pest infestation before irreversible
groups, which increases the reliability plant health, yields, water stress levels damage of plants occur. The
of weeding operations. If one robot and nitrogen deficiencies. information will determine exactly
has a problem and which areas need
fails, the others to be sprayed by
continue operating. employing drones,
This is not the case thus reducing the
with a single tractor volume of
or single sprayer pesticides used.
operation. Agbot ll Crop dusters on
is solar powered at airplanes spray
present, which is indiscriminately,
better for the covering the entire
environment and area with a mist of
the farmer's i n s e c t i c i d e .
budget. Agbot II fully-autonomous agricultural robot Drones can
replace this
The QUT team is indiscriminate
currently in dis- approach with
cussion with poten- more of a targeted
tial commercialisations partners to Drones equipped with multispectral campaign, only focussing on crop-
take this technology to Australian cameras can also determine areas of threatening clusters of pests.
farmers soon.
According to a recent
There is also a vast market for IDTechEx Research report,
drones (unmanned aerial agricultural robots and drones
vehicles or UAV's) due to their will grow to a $10 billion market
usefulness in various by 2022. The robotic market
branches of agriculture. and technology developments
According to a report from will change the business of
RnR Market Research, the agriculture in future, enabling
worldwide market for ultra-precision farming and
agricultural drones currently assist in addressing the key
sits at close to $500 million, global challenges. Within the
but RnR expects that amount next decade, farming as we
to balloon to $3.69 billion by know it is expected to be
2022. The main function of revolutionized by the use of
drones is the composition of self-driving tractors, robots and
detailed aerial maps of farms. drones that can perform time-
Drones can also be loaded consuming tasks now done by
with multi-spectral sensors humans.

Koot Louw - Cotton SA

TYPICAL CROP PROTECTION DRONE

A drone such as this can carry up to 10kg of liquid payloads, including
pesticide and fertilizer. The combination of speed and power means that
an area of about 4 ha can be covered in an hour which is 40 to 60 times
faster than manual spraying operations. The intelligent spraying system
automatically adjusts its spray according to the flying speed so that an
even spray is always applied. This way, the amount of pesticide or
fertilizer is precisely regulated to avoid pollution and economize
operations. During flight, the drone scans the terrain below in real-time,
automatically maintaining its height and distance from plants to ensure
application of an optimal amount of liquid. The drone also automatically
records its current and remembers its past coordinates as it makes its way
across the field. In case the operation is interrupted, for example due to
depleted battery or spraying liquid, flight can easily be resumed from the
last point in its memory after changing the battery or refilling its tank.

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