Bot to scan crops for health, insects and weeds

AgTech firm Solinftec is partnering with agricultural cooperative Growmark to develop a field-monitoring robot designed to improve yields, reduce risks and lower costs to farmers.

The robot’s neural network will feature detection algorithms that enable the scanning of crops for health and nutrition, as well as insects and weeds.

Solinftec’s robot connects to the company’s AI data science assistant platform ALICE to provide farmers with real-time, actionable recommendations on crops. Released in 2018, ALICE receives more than 10 billion pieces of information from the field per day, according to the agtech firm.

The pair will do robot tests this year with plans to have it commercially available for 2023.

“We’re taking our robot directly to the fields for practical implications,” said Daniel Padrão, Solinftec’s COO. “This cutting-edge technology will help develop agricultural solutions and support sustainable farm practices.”

Lance Ruppert, Growmark’s director of agronomy marketing technology, said the newly announced project has the potential to “change farm practices for the better of the industry and environment.”

Solinftec also pledged to protect and respect user privacy. “Farmers and users maintain ownership of their data and may choose to share results at their discretion,” the company said in a statement.

The partnership was announced during this year’s World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in San Francisco.