Google reveals Mineral crop-inspecting robots

Blog Layout

Google reveals Mineral crop-inspecting robots

Leo Daniels • Oct 16, 2020

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has unveiled prototype robots that can inspect individual plants in a field, to help farmers improve crop yields.

The robot buggies roll through fields on upright pillars, so they can coast over plants without disturbing them.

The goal is to collect huge amounts of data about how crops grow.

Called Project Mineral, it is part of Alphabet’s X company, which aims to create world-changing technology from radical “moonshot” ideas.

In a blog post, project lead Elliott Grant said: “We hope that better tools will enable the agriculture industry to transform how food is grown”.

The team says its main goal is to address the world’s increasing need for food and the sustainability of growing it.

But current tools do not give farmers the kind of information they need.

“What if every single plant could be monitored and given exactly the nutrition it needed?” Mr Grant wrote.

“What if we could untangle the genetic and environmental drivers of crop yield?”

While farmers may have information about the soil content or the weather, the buggy robot was designed to see how plants were “actually growing and responding to their environment”, the company said.

“Over the past few years, the plant buggy has trundled through strawberry fields in California and soybean fields in Illinois, gathering high quality images of each plant and counting and classifying every berry and every bean,” it said.

On top of being a literal bean-counter, the buggy can also record information such as plant height, leaf area and fruit size.

And all that data is plugged into a machine-learning system to try to spot patterns and insights useful to farmers.

Ian Drew, a technology company founder and chairman – and sheep farmer – said: “Putting robots in fields makes an awful lot of sense.”

Checking for bugs, making sure crops were picked and planted at the right time and even picking weeds or moving fences were possibilities, he said.

“Having robots is really efficient and effective,” Mr Drew said.

“Farmers are marginal most of the time.

“And so 1%, 2%, 5% efficiency is a huge gain for them – and anything that can do that for them will be taken up in the right way.”

“But there are some downsides to all of this.”

We’re 1-fix, we can help you secure your business

At 1-fix, we take a realistic approach to technology – ensuring our client’s systems are best protected.

If you have any concerns, questions or simply want to explore how to better secure your business, please do get in touch with the team for a FREE demonstration, consultation to explore how exposed your business might be and identify actions to take.

< Older Post

Newer Post >

Join Our Mailing List

All sign-ups are handled inline with our privacy policy and can unsubscribe at any time.

Recent Blogs

What is Microsoft Copilot and how can it boost your productivity?

By Grant Davis • 03 Apr, 2024

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, having an intelligent assistant by your side can make all the difference. Enter Microsoft Copilot, a powerful AI companion designed to boost productivity, spark creativity, and simplify complex tasks. Let’s dive into what makes Copilot a game-changer for individuals and businesses alike.