Robots May Eventually Help Kill Weeds That Impede Strawberry Yield
Think of University of Florida scientists Nathan Boyd and Arnold Schumann a bit like surgeons. Except, in this case, their operating room is a strawberry field.
With their research, Boyd and Schumann hope to eventually help growers unleash surgical strikes on weeds – without vanquishing their fruit. Additionally, robots may replace tractors as the means for delivering the spray in the field. Getting rid of weeds is critical for growers in Florida’s $300 million-a-year strawberry industry because weeds hinder fruit yield.
To conduct their studies, the UF/IFAS researchers mount a smart spray system to a tractor-pulled sprayer, which uses the highly targeted process to spray only weeds. So far, they’re killing up to 90% of the weeds. Precise spraying depends on many factors, including the types of weeds that scientists target and the speed of the tractor that sprays the weeds, said Boyd, a UF/IFAS associate professor of horticultural sciences.
Together, Boyd and Schumann – a professor of soil and water sciences at the Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred — are using artificial intelligence to detect and identify weeds within a crop canopy. The technology also can do the reverse: detect the canopy and spray everything else.
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