FUTURE FARMING ROBOTS
Robots are transforming farming thanks to artificial intelligence, GPS and advanced technology
WORDS MIKE JENNINGS
Six-axis robots are crucial for farming because their precise, gentle movements pick crops without damage
We’ve all driven past fields and seen tractors and combine harvesters, but those machines have been ploughing their own furrows for decades, and now they’re a bit old-fashioned. These days, forward-thinking farmers turn to robots to plant, manage and harvest crops and look after livestock. It’s no surprise when you consider the challenges facing farmers. A growing global population demands more food, climate change makes it harder to deliver predictable harvests and rising costs mean farmers need to keep operations efficient.
Early farming robots in the 1950s and 1960s were very basic. As computers developed in the 1980s, robots started performing more complex tasks like crop monitoring and harvesting, and by the 1990s they were using early artificial intelligence (AI) and machine vision technology to identify and pick fruit and handle milking in dairies. Since then, robotic farming has become even more sophisticated, and shows no sign of stopping.