How Scientists Aim To Transform Agriculture Forever Through The Use Of Robot Farmers That Plant And Harvest Crops

One would have wondered how the world would have been without the emergence of science, which gives room for consistent innovation of different technologies. It is no longer news that the world as a global village is increasing in population, hence there is need for adequate food production.

Technology is no doubt the replacement of human labor and a contributive factor to higher productivity with little human effort in production. Robot as a new trend in technology has been used globally most especially in the manufacturing industries to increase their daily output without much stress. Robot is not only needed in the manufacturing industries, its importance cut across all sectors including agriculture. The importance of robot in agriculture cannot be overemphasize. Just like driverless tractors, improved seedlings, incubators, among others has increased agricultural yields, so is robot aim at achieving that within a stipulated time depending on the farmland.

The use of Robot in the farmland is getting recognition across the globe, take for example the Harper Adams university, they are taking the farm autonomy idea seriously, they have made exploit using automation in planting and harvesting one and half acre of barley. They further developed ideas using the Hands Free hectare project, in which no human set their foot on the farmland during the period of planting and harvesting, and this was purely done by robots.

WHAT IS A ROBOT?

A robot is a machine that looks like human which is capable of carrying out duties without emotions, and has capacity of moving independently without assistance.

AGRICULTURAL ROBOT FOR HARVESTING AND PLANTING CROPS.

Agricultural robot makes use of different applications in other to perform a designated task within the farmland. There are certain task robot are used for in agriculture and they include:

• Harvesting and picking
• Sorting and packing
• Weed control
• Utility platforms
• Autonomous spraying, seeding, pruning, mowing, among others.

Among the task identified, harvesting and picking is one of the most popular application used in agriculture because of the speed and accuracy robot uses in improving the size of yields and reducing waste in the farmland. There are however innovative ways the agricultural industries are using this technology to improve their productions yields. Take for example Taylor's farms in the Salinas valley, U.S.A. they have made a conscious effort of dropping agricultural workers because in the farmland, robot wielding water knives cut lettuce heads and collect them afterwards. The only work of human now is to separate the good produce from the bad ones.

BENEFITS OF ROBOTS IN AGRICULTURE

1. Increase in agriculture yields: as we all know that robot does not get sick or tired as a result of the work done, so they do not have time off duty. In this regard, they work tirelessly until the work is completely done. Adequate productivity can be achieved using robot, this is because it works with high speed and obtain minimal errors.
2. Easy to control: unlikehumans, robot are very easy to control because they do not have emotions, when given a particular work to do; it finishes it without complaining of being tired or asking a day off work.
3. Task: robot performs numerous task, whatever task you want the robot to perform, it delivers it; all you need to do is to program it based on the task needed to be performed.
4. Working independently: many wonder if robot can work independently, the answer is yes, robot can work independently even in the farmland. In running agricultural operations, robot work independently such as spraying of weed control, sustainability of environment, fruit picking, among others.
5. Condition of service: robot can work under any condition it is being placed. It can work on any type of soil, it can work around trees, just name it. Robots are usually created for tedious work.
6. It saves labor cost: using robot in agriculture saves cost of hiring much labor. Work meant for hundreds of persons will just be handled by few robots doing the work efficiently, within a stipulated time.

CONCLUSION

The use of robot in agriculture is an emerging innovation that is geared towards increasing productivity to feed the world growing population. However, the main robotic application today in agriculture is at the harvesting stage, which is expected to cut across other areas in agriculture in years to come.