Zürcher Nachrichten - AI robots fill in for weed killers and farm hands

EUR -
AED 4.278283
AFN 80.434184
ALL 97.629354
AMD 447.549651
ANG 2.084633
AOA 1068.117051
ARS 1490.141744
AUD 1.784976
AWG 2.096631
AZN 2.05502
BAM 1.956388
BBD 2.350907
BDT 141.3525
BGN 1.955231
BHD 0.439085
BIF 3470.043336
BMD 1.164795
BND 1.494549
BOB 8.045419
BRL 6.454364
BSD 1.16435
BTN 100.237138
BWP 15.6327
BYN 3.810446
BYR 22829.986278
BZD 2.338803
CAD 1.597686
CDF 3361.598554
CHF 0.931958
CLF 0.029254
CLP 1122.688171
CNY 8.367542
CNH 8.360376
COP 4655.604952
CRC 587.576666
CUC 1.164795
CUP 30.867073
CVE 110.298163
CZK 24.629242
DJF 207.132278
DKK 7.464113
DOP 70.321143
DZD 151.700727
EGP 57.553003
ERN 17.471928
ETB 161.780442
FJD 2.622884
FKP 0.868431
GBP 0.866567
GEL 3.156085
GGP 0.868431
GHS 12.13865
GIP 0.868431
GMD 83.30256
GNF 10103.037674
GTQ 8.939688
GYD 243.603244
HKD 9.141156
HNL 30.473162
HRK 7.533544
HTG 152.875965
HUF 399.015165
IDR 18992.684911
ILS 3.911056
IMP 0.868431
INR 100.314145
IQD 1525.258599
IRR 49052.438022
ISK 142.198458
JEP 0.868431
JMD 186.195983
JOD 0.825857
JPY 172.976168
KES 150.433383
KGS 101.860918
KHR 4666.443119
KMF 495.612935
KPW 1048.357559
KRW 1618.051824
KWD 0.35588
KYD 0.970292
KZT 620.706627
LAK 25109.549672
LBP 104325.767563
LKR 351.285621
LRD 233.452196
LSL 20.615298
LTL 3.439337
LVL 0.704573
LYD 6.324516
MAD 10.528566
MDL 19.805955
MGA 5181.557936
MKD 61.578515
MMK 2445.201389
MNT 4177.683614
MOP 9.413311
MRU 46.316926
MUR 53.206973
MVR 17.9343
MWK 2019.007054
MXN 21.795788
MYR 4.945757
MZN 74.499728
NAD 20.615298
NGN 1780.774001
NIO 42.852885
NOK 11.836806
NPR 160.379221
NZD 1.949308
OMR 0.447842
PAB 1.16435
PEN 4.144546
PGK 4.82145
PHP 66.41202
PKR 331.606904
PLN 4.248685
PYG 9011.709545
QAR 4.233473
RON 5.074893
RSD 117.128288
RUB 91.432882
RWF 1682.520327
SAR 4.369251
SBD 9.666457
SCR 16.720299
SDG 699.460678
SEK 11.256883
SGD 1.495195
SHP 0.915346
SLE 26.615832
SLL 24425.177926
SOS 665.400065
SRD 43.33974
STD 24108.909305
STN 24.507369
SVC 10.188063
SYP 15145.166463
SZL 20.611197
THB 37.731793
TJS 11.20687
TMT 4.088431
TND 3.422929
TOP 2.728061
TRY 47.033423
TTD 7.904377
TWD 34.224597
TZS 3035.208245
UAH 48.62592
UGX 4172.254469
USD 1.164795
UYU 46.924109
UZS 14738.431395
VES 136.240263
VND 30471.042909
VUV 139.440623
WST 3.067249
XAF 656.15992
XAG 0.030428
XAU 0.000347
XCD 3.147917
XCG 2.098431
XDR 0.817428
XOF 656.154285
XPF 119.331742
YER 281.12365
ZAR 20.625221
ZMK 10484.551487
ZMW 26.809061
ZWL 375.063585
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

AI robots fill in for weed killers and farm hands
AI robots fill in for weed killers and farm hands / Photo: Josh Edelson - AFP

AI robots fill in for weed killers and farm hands

Oblivious to the punishing midday heat, a wheeled robot powered by the sun and infused with artificial intelligence carefully combs a cotton field in California, plucking out weeds.

Text size:

As farms across the United States face a shortage of laborers and weeds grow resistant to herbicides, startup Aigen says its robotic solution -- named Element -- can save farmers money, help the environment and keep harmful chemicals out of food.

"I really believe this is the biggest thing we can do to improve human health," co-founder and chief technology officer Richard Wurden told AFP, as robots made their way through crops at Bowles Farm in the town of Los Banos.

"Everybody's eating food sprayed with chemicals."

Wurden, a mechanical engineer who spent five years at Tesla, went to work on the robot after relatives who farm in Minnesota told him weeding was a costly bane.

Weeds are becoming immune to herbicides, but a shortage of laborers often leaves chemicals as the only viable option, according to Wurden.

"No farmer that we've ever talked to said 'I'm in love with chemicals'," added Aigen co-founder and chief executive Kenny Lee, whose background is in software.

"They use it because it's a tool -- we're trying to create an alternative."

Element the robot resembles a large table on wheels, solar panels on top. Metal arms equipped with small blades reach down to hoe between crop plants.

"It actually mimics how humans work," Lee said as the temperature hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) under a cloudless sky.

"When the sun goes down, it just powers down and goes to sleep; then in the morning it comes back up and starts going again."

The robot's AI system takes in data from on-board cameras, allowing it to follow crop rows and identify weeds.

"If you think this is a job that we want humans doing, just spend two hours in the field weeding," Wurden said.

Aigen's vision is for workers who once toiled in the heat to be "upskilled" to monitor and troubleshoot robots.

Along with the on-board AI, robots communicate wirelessly with small control centers, notifying handlers of mishaps.

- Future giant? -

Aigen has robots running in tomato, cotton, and sugar beet fields, and touts the technology's ability to weed without damaging the crops.

Lee estimated that it takes about five robots to weed 160 acres (65 hectares) of farm.

The robots made by the 25-person startup -- based in the city of Redmond, outside Seattle -- are priced at $50,000.

The company is focused on winning over politically conservative farmers with a climate friendly option that relies on the sun instead of costly diesel fuel that powers heavy machinery.

"Climate, the word, has become politicized but when you get really down to brass tacks farmers care about their land," Lee said.

The technology caught the attention of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the e-commerce giant's cloud computing unit.

Aigen was chosen for AWS's "Compute for Climate" fellowship program that provides AI tools, data center power, and technical help for startups tackling environmental woes.

"Aigen is going to be one of the industry giants in the future," said AWS head of climate tech startups business development Lisbeth Kaufman.

"I think about Ford and the Model T, or Edison and the light bulb -- that's Kenny and Rich and Aigen."

R.Schmid--NZN