People get worried when robotics enters a conversation. Why? Is it because sci-fi films have taught us they’ll take over the world someday? Sort of! Most of us aren’t realistically worried about robots gaining sentience and taking over. However, we fear that they’ll be developed to take our jobs.
This means we don’t welcome the news of robotics advancements in some areas. Nevertheless, this technology can be widely beneficial for everyone in certain industries, like agriculture. Agricultural robotics is gaining traction with loads of investment into concepts designed to make farming more efficient, sustainable, and profitable. It’s rather exciting, and we recently got to know three major robotics advancements that could change the industry forever.
Here are the top 8 agritech startups transforming agriculture in Southeast Asia
Autonomous farming robots
Farmers spend days planting and harvesting crops. Hiring people for these jobs will cost a fortune, but autonomous farming robots make it easier than ever before. This is a fairly early concept in some regards – though we do see some robots capable of harvesting simple crops in some settings.
The idea of an autonomous farming robot is simple: robotic machines can go through a field, sew seeds, and provide the right watering for them. When the crops need harvesting, these robots are programmed to complete this task. You can even combine robotic systems here and have AI-powered drones fly overhead to spray water on the crops and ensure they’re fertilized. It’s an exciting idea that can remove a lot of the manual labour from agriculture.
Advanced cleaning robots
The agricultural industry often has large silos and containers for storage. These require regular cleaning or the materials/matter inside will cause blockages and make the containers unsanitary. We already see some advancements in this domain today with silo cleaning from Bin Whip machines. These are portable devices that get lowered into silos and spin around for accurate cleaning.
It’s not a stretch to imagine this technology getting even better with robotics. Perhaps we’ll see robot-controlled cleaning systems entering silos and containers to provide even more thorough cleaning in the future? Or, robotic cleaning systems will be introduced to clean produce as it’s harvested.
Robotic pest control systems
Some tech companies are toying with the idea of robotics in pest control. From an agricultural standpoint, the idea looks a bit like this: robotic machines are placed throughout the crops with sensors and radar systems designed to detect specific pests. They’re programmed with ways of dealing with these pests and can help remove them.
It’s a fun concept that can make farming easier. Robots can clamp down on pests, ruining crops, which would mean farmers see more produce with every plant. This can mitigate diseases being spread through crops by pests too, improving a farm’s overall profitability.
Agricultural robotics is still largely in the theory phase. Nevertheless, the uses are pretty astounding – and they don’t seem to harm human jobs in any way. They make life easier for farmers and can do a fantastic job of reducing some of the manual labour risks associated with farming. We’re excited to see what the future holds and if this can help the agricultural industry be more sustainable.