Autonomous Robotic Weeder (in) Arable Crops

"The project focuses on the development of an environmentally sensitive mechanical weed control system for use across arable farms in the UK. This is to address the widespread issue of the Blackgrass weed within arable cropping land with a view to providing an alternative method of husbandry to spraying with herbicides. The objectives are to optimise crop production and longer term soil quality through the reduced use of herbicides across arable farm enterprises.

Field trials will be employed to test the most effective methods of weed destruction and precision digital mapping of fields will be combined with engineered vehicles to provide a sustainable alternative to herbicidal use bringing financial and environmental improvements to the farming economy in the UK.

The project is of significant interest due to national scale of the issue in cultivated land. Some 80% of fields surveyed in England show resistance to the predominant selectively targeted treatments commonly employed by farmers to control the Blackgrass weed. This results in yield impact of up to 12% and costs of circa. £300 per hectare in lost yields and additional spraying control costs. (Source: Hicks, H.L et al.)

It is for these reasons that it is considered vital that an alternative to the current range of herbicides be developed for widespread use in the UK arable market.

The project is a collaboration between industry specialists and the University of Lincoln with a view to deliver a highly researched and technical machine capable of replacing the existing control treatments through the innovation of market leading technologies."