Robots are already present in agriculture and the food sector in the European Union. They pick fruit and vegetables, milk cows, feed them, or cut meat in slaughterhouses and meat processing plants. But that is not enough for researchers who want more: the creation of integrated systems, in which robots are given multiple roles, namely to act intelligently, autonomously, and to control the agricultural activity, according to LantulAlimenta.ro.
The European Union has allocated 7.9 million euros for a project carried out by the University of Wageningen, in the Netherlands, which will have as partners farmers and businessmen from the Netherlands, France, Greece, and Spain. Called Robs4Crops, the project was launched on January 1, 2021, and its aim is to accelerate the transition to large-scale robotics in European agriculture.
The launch of this project was in part motivated by the labor crisis in agriculture caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Farmers have faced a shortage of seasonal workers, who have either fallen ill or their movement has been restricted due to the pandemic.
But the role of robots in farming will not only be that of replacing seasonal workers. Intelligent machines will be able to operate agricultural equipment, which will be adapted to receive and interpret commands and act accordingly. Robots will be able to collect data in the fields on weather, on the development of the plants, to interpret their needs, and to identify the presence and intensity of plant diseases or pests; after processing and interpreting all this data and, robots will be able to issue specific commands to the agricultural machinery to intervene, either to perform agricultural work or to administer necessary treatments and fertilizers. At the same time, robots will determine the need for water in crops. In this way, water waste will be avoided. Moreover, the activity of robots will massively reduce the impact on the environment. (Photo: Pixabay)
Translation: Ovidiu Harfaș