Scientists from the Italian Institute of Technology are developing 'smart materials' that could lead to robots that will decompose like a human body once they've reached the end of their life-span.
STORY: Robots are getting ever more life-like, but underneath their synthetic skin it's a different story. Their insides are still made mostly from metal and plastic - materials that are hard to dispose of. But researchers in Italy are developing 'smart materials' that could allow robots to be built from substances that will biodegrade when they've reached the end of their life-span.
By merging separate distinct materials at the nano level the scientists are creating new and novel materials that preserve the properties of the individual components, but exhibit characteristics that would not be possible individually.
"We are infusing any material with nano technology. So what we are doing apart from making these new composite materials - smart materials - we're also using them to change the properties of other materials, other existing materials like paper or cotton or different foams; from synthetic foams like polyurethane or forms of cotton. So like this, in all these existing materials we are giving new properties that these materials don't have so we can open up their application range," explained Athanassia Athanassiou, who leads the Smart Materials Group at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genoa.
The researchers say their 'smart materials' could eventually replace conventional plastic which is made from petroleum, a fossil fuel, and contributes to climate change. Bioplastics are made from plant material, but are more energy-intensive to produce. Athanassiou's team have developed a way to create bioplastic from food waste, and so hope to mitigate the additional energy required by using resources that would normally go to waste.
In particular, robotics could be an important application for their research, according to Athanassiou.
"These biodegradable materials, natural materials, they are very flexible so they can be used for robotic skins. But they can be also very hard so they can be used for internal parts of a robot. And also, in this flexible skin - robotic skin let's say - we can incorporate sensors so they have this tactile sensing that the robots need, but with biodegradable materials," Athanassiou told Reuters.
Nikos Tsagarakis, lead researcher on a humanoid robot project at the IIT, said that roboticists will have to move on from metal in order to build the next generation of robot.
"The main issue is it's actually difficult to see how you can achieve the properties that you want to have; say matching more the properties of the human body. So going to alternative materials would be this advantage - it will help us to make lighter robots, more efficient and, finally, also recyclable," said Tsagarakis, who is developing the Walk-Man humanoid robot to operate human tools and interact with its environment in the same way a person would.
Robots made from biodegradable material would certainly make them more human-like, and perhaps more easily accepted in the real-world. And if robots are to ever be truly ubiquitous, they also need to be easily disposed of once they reach the end of their useful life-span.
While Athanassiou believes biodegradable materials are imminent for the skin-like outer layer, she believes eventually the entire robot body could decompose just as if it was flesh and blood.
In each round of the competition, the robots fight in a timed battle. The winner is decided by either a ‘knockout’ or, if there is no clear winner once the time runs out, a panel of three expert judges will agree on a ‘judge’s decision’.
There are three ways to win by a knockout:-
Flipping an opponent out of the arena into the surrounding trench.
Manoeuvring your opponent into the ‘pit’ hazard inside the arena.
Immobilising your opponent for 10 seconds through extensive damage or your opponent breaks down and is therefore not able to continue.
In the event that a battle goes to a judges’ decision, the judges award a win based on the following three criteria:
Damage – causing clear damage to an opponent both visually and internally.
Aggression – consistently taking the battle to its opponents.
Control – demonstrating good driving skills and weapon accuracy throughout the battle.
Each category is scored from one to five and the scores are weighted to reflect their importance as follows: Aggression x3, Damage x2, and Control x1.
This results in an overall score and the robot with the highest overall score wins the battle.
Episodes 1-5: Qualifiers
Eight teams and their robots start the show and they face three battle rounds per show:-
Round 1 – Group Battles
The eight competing robots are split into two groups of four. Each group fight each other at the same time in a three-minute battle. The two winners from each group progress to the next round and the two losers from each group are eliminated from the competition.
Round 2 – Mini League ‘Head to Heads’
The four winning robots from the group battles in Round One all enter the mini league, called The Head to Heads.
Each robot fights all of the other robots once in that league, in a series of three minute-long head to head battles. To ensure fairness, the presenters draw names at random to decide which robot fights first.
A win by knockout scores three points, but if the time runs out and there is no winner it goes to the judges to decide the winner – and that robot scores two points.
The two robots in first and second place in the mini-league go through to the final.
Round Three – Final
The two robots in first and second place (based on total points scored) go head to head in a three minute final battle. The winner of the final goes through to the Grand Final at the end of the series (episode 6).
Episode 6: Grand Final
Six teams and their robots start the show. They comprise the five winners from episodes 1-5 and one runner-up selected by the judges based on the on their merits from their previous episode.
The Grand Finalists face up to three rounds as per episodes 1-5:-
Round 1 – Group Battles
Round 2 – Mini League ‘Head to Heads’
Round 3 – The Final
The winner of round three and the final battle is crowned Robot Wars Champion 2016.
As we say goodbye to the 200x’s and welcome the 201x’s it’s good to pause a bit and think about the world as it was ten years ago. There was no Wikipedia, no YouTube, internet access was still dialup for a huge portion of the population, and we didn’t have a whole heap of really cool robots. To highlight some of the great inventions of the past ten years, we’ve selected 10 of the best robots fom the past 10 years.
With any sort of list like this, things are pretty arbitrary, but we tried to pick robots that have made an impact in our culture or have impacted the hobby or science of robots in a major way. Below you’ll find 10 amazing robots from the military, toy industry, consumer industry, and science community that have had a lasting impact on robotics.
Take a look and tell us what you think. If you had to nominate 10 robots of the decade, who would they be? Keep reading for our picks for robots of the decade.
KeepOn (2007 – present)
KeepOn took the online world by storm in March of 2007 when Marek Michalowski, a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University, uploaded a film of KeepOn dancing to Spoon’s, “I Turn My Camera On”. The catchy beat plus KeepOn’s utter adorableness prompted over 2 million people to watch the video. KeepOn then went on to star in a WIRED sponsored music video featuring Spoon’s, “Don’t You Evah”. This video garnered another million plus views. KeepOn is hard to describe, other than “incredibly cute”, and it’s still stunning how lifelike and emotive two squishy stacked balls with googly-eyes can be.
KeepOn makes the “Top Robots of the past 10 Years” list simply because of his amazing ability to charm his way into mainstream culture.
PackBot (2001 – present)
iRobot’s PackBot saw its first real action in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, as it searched through the rubble of the World Trade Center towers in New York City. The US Military also used them shortly thereafter in Afghanistan to search caves and buildings for insurgents, and to investigate anti-personnel mines. The military quickly realized the usefulness of such a tool and the number of PackBots in use has grown to over 2,000 (iRobot’s site says 2,500 currently in use).
Due to the huge number of road-side bomb attacks in Iraq, iRobot developed an Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) package for the PackBot and quickly became a strong competitor in the EOD arena, competing against the much larger and older TALON robots by Foster-Miller. EOD soldiers tended to prefer the PackBot to the TALON due to its more intuitive and responsive controls.
At the DEMO event in 2006 an amazing robot named Pleo was unveiled by Caleb Chung, the creator of the Furby (actually, maybe Furby should be on this list too!). Chung promised a successor to the unbelievably popular Furby, which sold 27 million units in one 12 month period. Pleo was supposed to supersede Furby’s ability to learn and interact with its users while adding the ability to move around by walking.
Pleo was originally announced to cost $200 and be released around Christmas 2006. Both numbers quickly slipped and Pleo was finally released in December of 2007 for a cost of over $300! Amidst all the hype around Pleo, sales were sluggish and Pleo mainly appealed to the techno-savvy crowd. Promises of a Pleo software development kit were delayed, and while Pleo owners were overwhelmingly positive about Pleo, Ugobe (Pleo’s parent company) was never able to convince the average consumer they needed one. In fact, Ugobe really didn’t know how to market Pleo at all. By late 2008 the global economy effectively shut down the company and the IP was auctioned off in April of 2009. Amazingly enough, though, the IP to Pleo was purchased by Jetta Company Limited who announced that they would continue to sell and develop Pleo.
Pleo’s amazing firebird-like story and his continued popularity with owners, children, the elderly, and robot builders put him on this list of top robots from the past 10 years. No one has successfuly produced a consumer product that is so sophisticated, intricate and accessible to the average person. Pleo’s future looks bright as long as Jetta can nail down a target market and successfully advertise Pleo. Educational and hobbiest development looks promising too.
BigDog (2005 – present)
Boston Dynamics calls BigDog, “the most advanced rough-terrain robot on earth.” If you asked someone on the street about BigDog, they’d probably say, “oh yeah! That really creepy looking walking robots. That’s awesome!” While Boston Dynamics claim may certainly be true, the incredible reaction from the general public is the main reason you’re seeing this robot on this list.
Released in 2005, BigDog was designed using funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, and was created to serve as a “pack mule” for a solider in the battle field. The robot is about the size of a large dog and can carry a load of up to 340 pounds (150 kg) at 4 miles/hr while climbing over rough terrain and steep inclines. The success of the robot, and most of the creepy charm, comes from its ability mimic the walking motion of real animals. Its design absorbs shock, and recycles energy from one step to the next. It also has an onboard LIDAR and stereo vision system for navigation.
Video of an updated version of BigDog was released in 2008 and has been watched by nearly 10 million people. BigDog’s ability to recover from a kick, and walking on icy surfaces is simply amazing.
BigDog makes this list of robots of the decade because its amazing engineering impresses not only robot lovers, but the general public as well. It even inspired a very funny prody video, with nearly 3 million views.
RoboSapien (2003 – present)
RoboSapien was a unique robotic toy released in 2003. Produced by an obscure Hong Kong based toy manufacturer named WowWee, the $100 walking, talking, robot was a smash hit. For those in the BEAM Robotics community, perhaps the release wasn’t such a surprise, as Mark Tilden, the father of the BEAM field, had quit his job at Los Alamos National Laboratory and moved to Hong Kong to work on robot toys. The RoboSapien quickly won a whole slew of awards and sold close to 2 million units. WowWee released a RoboSapien V2 toy in 2005, and many more toys in the “Robo” lineup.
RoboSapien makes the list of important robots over the past ten years because of its numerous awards, large sales volume and immediate recognition by the average member of the public. WowWee proved that advanced and innovative robots could also be cool and a viable consumer product.
ASIMO and Honda P-Series (2000 – present)
Asimo is the 11th in a line of walking robots developed by Honda, called the P-Series. Unveiled in 2000, Asimo could walk and run like a human, which was an amazing feat. ASIMO had a significant upgrade in 2005, that allowed him to run twice as fast (6 km/hr or 4.3mph), interact with humans, and perform basic tasks like holding a platter and serving food. The current ASIMO models number about 100 worldwide, stand 4.2 feet tall, and weight about 120 lbs.
ASIMO, with his space-suit looking appearance, is cheerful and endearing. He has paved the way for many subsequent walking, human-like robots, but still holds his own as an advanced and powerful robot. ASIMO is a great boon to Honda’s global branding, and helps the company’s appearance of innovation and technology. ASIMO has also appeared in commercials for Honda, like this one, has his own website, and makes many celebrity appearances. A YouTube video showing ASIMO’s 2005 upgrade has had over 2.5 millions views.
ASIMO makes this list because of his winsome appearance, world-wide recognition, and advanced technology.
Aibo (1999 – 2006)
2006 was the year that robot dogs died, when Sony shut down its popular and sophisticated robotics divsion. Started in 1999, Sony produced the very popular Aibo robot dog, which quickly became a favorite robot of dog lovers and high-rolling robot builders alike. Sony developed the robots through three generations and garnered a large following of devoted developers.
Aibo makes the list of robots of the decade because of its continued popularity, numerous uses in research, and tearful story of corporate robo-execution.
The drone, which was developed by the secretive General Atomics company, has flown combat missions in several foreign countries, and is extensively used by the US military in the war in Afghanistan. The Predator’s low airspeed makes it nearly invisible to ground troops, and advanced camera’s and optics allow the ground-based operator to obtain high-resolution images of the ground below.
Most of the Predators are controlled via ground-based troops stationed in Southern California, and the drones are controlled via military satellite links. The video downlink feeds can be access by troops in the field, or by insurgents themselves, as the video feeds aren’t encrypted.
The Predators make this list because they have been instrumental in saving hundreds of soldier’s lives over the course of the past 10 years. It can only be left to the imagination how difficult the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan would have been without powerful air-based surveillance by these robots.
LEGO Mindstorms (1998 – present)
If you were a robot builder or a LEGO fan in 1998, the biggest news of the year was the release of LEGO’s LEGO Mindstorms RIS product. It was revolutionary for a strictly toy company to unveil an advanced robotics platform that appealed to hobbyists, educators, and children alike. The first set, the RIS 1.0 sold well and LEGO released a RIS 2.0 kit shortly thereafter. The RIS set was wildly successful (LEGO’s best selling product) and spawned a huge variety of projects, books, and various compilers. The RIS also had its own competition, the FIRST Lego League competition.
For eight years the set remained substantially the same, while the rest of the world made huge progress in computing power and robotics technology. Then, in early 2006, LEGO announced the creation of a brand new and completely re-imaged Mindstorms kit called “LEGO Mindstorms NXT”. The new kit featured a powerful processor, bluetooth connectivity, a LABView-based programming environment, and several new sensors. The motors in the kit were also significantly upgraded to allow for speed control or position control – a major difficulty in designing robots for the RIS. The kit was released to the public in July of 2006 and was praised as a great addition to the Mindstorms lineup. Amazingly enough, LEGO had designed the new set in a mere eleven months, with the close help from a team of its biggest Mindstorms fans. Mindstorms NXT 2.0 was released in the summer of 2009 and continues to sell well.
LEGO Mindstorms NXT (and RIS) make this list because it has introduced millions of children to the world of robotics. While RIS was relased over 12 years ago, the NXT release in 2006 once again kicked off a flurry of books and innovative creations that excite and inspire. I firmly believe that the world will be a better place 20 or 30 years from now because so many were inspired by the Mindstorms kits and went on to do great things.
Roomba (2002 – present)
It’s awful hard to remember back to 2001 when the dream of floor cleaning robots was still just that – a dream of housewives and robo-fanboys everywhere. iRobot took the household cleaning market by storm when it released its first commercial floor cleaning robot, called the Roomba, in 2002. By 2004 the Roomba had sold 1 million units, when a second generation model was released, the Roomba Discovery series. iRobot has since gone on to release a 3rd generation model in 2007, and a floor scrubbing robot, Scooba. To date 2.5 million Roombas have been sold.
The Roomba makes the list because my grandmother has one. Any robot that can be operated and loved by a technophobe is a rare find and worth celebrating. SNL also did a very funny parody of Roomba, called the “Woomba”.
Onward To The Next 10 Years …
So, there you have it. The 10 most important robots of the past ten years. What do you think? Are there any robots I left off or any robots you think shouldn’t be on this list? It’s been a pretty busy 10 years for robotic innovation, so I don’t doubt there’s plenty more than I could have listed. Here’s to ten great years of robot goodness and high hopes for ten more!
When you first turn on the Robo Shooter by ThinkGizmos, he says, “Greetings Master. I await your command!” Immediately, it sends a jolt of excitement through your child. This kids robot comes with a remote control that’s easy to hold, and it allows the user to move the robot into position. Once in position, they’re able to shoot mini foam discs from its chest, taking out foes in its path. But he’s not just a shooting robot — he dances as well! He has a dance button that will send him into a dancing frenzy. He can walk in all directions, and he stands at 30 cm tall. He requires 6 AA batteries, but it’s well worth the battery burn, as your kids will absolutely adore their new robot friend.
There are quite a few great MiP Robots available by WowWee, but our favorite is the black MiP robot. It has a sort of “police the area” look to it, but what makes it unique is that it communicates using motions, sounds and RGB LED eyes. It balances on two wheels and scoots about the room its in with expert balance. This kid-friendly robot can also balance multiple objects, and has numerous modes including Roam, Stacking, Programming, and Dance. To activate these different modes, you simply turn the right wheel, and the big glowing LED on its chest changes color, meaning a new mode has been activated. We recommend trying the dancing mode first — something about robots and dancing always makes kids smile! There’s also an app that can be used as a remote. All around, the MiP Robot is one of the best gifts for boys and girls alike.
If you follow Heavy, you probably noticed that I’m a lover of dinosaur toys, and one of the best dino toys I frequently recommend is the Zoomer Dino. It was one of 2015’s best toys for boys, and now that it comes in at under $50, we love it even more! It comes with a super simple remote, which is a surprise since the dinosaur robot is so smart. In fact, like the MiP robot, he uses smart balancing technology to balance on two wheels. He can sense where you are and what you’re doing. He works on a charge, so you’ll only need batteries for the remote control (it takes three AAA batteries, so they’ll last for quite a while before you need to replace them). He even has a chomper button, as well as an angry button, which sends your dinosaur into a frenzy of fury.
Some of the best moments I’ve had with my own son over the past year were when we were working together putting together his Meccano MeccaNoid G15. It comes with over 600 pieces, and some of them are rather small, which is why it’s recommended for ages 10+ (although, my 7 year old had no problem following the directions with a little help). This kit allows you to build your own personal robot, program him and play with him. The G15 was a hot commodity this past Christmas, and it has become a favorite choice for robot toys for kids.
The other big robot this past holiday season was the Sphero BB-8 App-enabled droid, which swept the nation of toy-lovers, and even made it on our list of the best BB-8 toys for sale. This little droid is controlled with your smartphone (works with both iOS and Android), and he’s able to listen to and respond, reacting to the voices around him. You can also record “holographic” videos and replay them later on. He’s undeniably charming, and your kids will have a blast controlling him with their phones.
Although not quite as advanced as the Zoomer Dino, there’s still plenty of room in our hearts for the Zoomer Kitty, an interactive robot cat toy that makes the “PURRfect” friend (their words, not mine). The cat plays with your children like a real cat would, and it even has touch sensors in its head, ears and cheeks. It’ll nuzzle your children just like a real cat would, and she’ll perform tricks. What’s more, she’ll follow her interactive kitty toy. She has a Cuddle Mode, Pounce Mode, and more, and she even sings and dances.
A couple of years ago, one of the big hot toys of the year was the WowWee Robosapien, a humanoid robot brimming with personality (admittedly, PROGRAMMED personality, but still cool). He has fluid motions and gestures, and he has two speeds. He has four programming modes that allow him to do different things, like react to touch, pick up, kicks or sound. His hands grab, and his eyes light up. He can dance, and his moves are sure to make your kids laugh.
Solar energy is becoming ever important, and teaching your kids about solar energy and how to harness it is important. Believe it or not, robots can be used as educational toys, and one of our favorite learning tools is the OWI 14-in-1 Solar Robot Kit. It helps to teach children how to create solar powered robots, with two different levels of building skills. So whether they’re a beginner or an experienced crafter, there are plans in this kit that will keep them entertained. They’ll create various walking robots and robots that use wheels to get around, all of which are powered by the sun — that means no batteries required.
Of course, it’s important to note that robots don’t have to be learning tools, either. In fact, some of the best robots for kids available right now come in the form of battle bots, just like this Attacknid Doom Razor by Combat Creatures. It’s a remote controlled robot that allows users to march over any terrain. It has a head that rotates a full 360 degrees to ensure that your robot never gets stuck. It has a 200 foot range and is controlled with a 2.4ghz remote. What’s more, battling this robot with a friend’s robot is an absolutely awesome experience. The battle bot can take damage (the legs pop off and on), and if the bot takes three hits to the electronic brain, it shuts down. It fires discs, and the battles can become pretty competitive.
Kids love to spy on things, or at least, they love to think they’re spying on things. The Spy Gear Video TRAKR will allow them to do just that. It records live video and sends a feed directly to the controller. The camera has night vision, too, so they’ll be able use it to traverse the hallways late at night. It has an SD card slot to allow for the recording of videos (although it’s likely they won’t even use that feature). Admittedly, this spy robot has been around for a few years. However, that means there are tons of applications available for it, thanks to the fact that it uses C++ programming. Programs can be found online, and your kids will have a blast playing with it and getting their siblings into trouble for doing something they shouldn’t.
Farmers are increasingly under pressure to feed more people. The UN predicts that the world population will rise from 7.3 billion today to 9.7 billion in 2050. This growing population has become pickier about the food they eat. In the EU alone, the organic market grew by 7.4% in 2014 with sales valued at €24 billion. Beyond organic food, there is an overall push to make farming greener by using less water and pesticides.
“Agriculture is most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, but it’s also one of its causes”, says Birgit Schulz from Deepfield Robotics. “Making cultivation sustainable is essential”.
These factors mean farmers need to produce more, at a higher quality, and in a sustainable manner. With youth turning away from the profession, there is also less labour available to drive the vision forward.
Enter the robots — set to improve production yield, while reducing resources required, and making farming an exciting high-tech profession.
“Few people want to get up at 5am, farming is a heavy and dirty job.”, says Eldert van Henten, head of the the Farm Technology Group at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He adds that, “the high-tech nature of future farming might attract new people into the profession, but also bring back those who left”.
Robots are just part of an overall push towards precision agriculture. Given the potential, Europe has funded at least 6 projects around robotic farming. And there is plenty to do given the large number of tasks on a farm that are ripe for automation.
For crop farming, robots need to autonomously navigate their environment and perform actions at set locations, for example, picking a fruit, spraying a pesticide, planting a seed, imaging a plant, or making a measurement. Glasshouses are slightly simpler to move around since the environment is more carefully engineered, and is often fit with tracks which robots follow to reach desired locations. In the case of outdoor farming, the robots work by receiving a plan with a set of locations to visit on the field. When the robot trajectories are known, the robot can use GPS positioning and a closed-loop control to make sure it remains on track. When the task is to follow an unknown trajectory, for example a crop row, vision is often used to allow the robot to find its way. Robots are wirelessly connected to a central operator to both receive updated instructions regarding the mission, and report status and data. Put together, making an autonomous farm robot requires clever controllers, localisation and communication systems. To a certain extent, the technology is similar to that of autonomous cars applied to agtech. Where it differs is that farming robots often need to manipulate their environment, picking vegetables or fruits, applying pesticides in a localised manner, or planting seeds. All these tasks require sensing, manipulation, and processing of their own.
The recently finished project RHEA developed a fleet of tractors and aerial robots with sensor systems to discriminate weeds from crops and apply herbicides where needed. Pablo Gonzalez de Santos, the lead on the project, explains what is achievable today:
“Autonomous robots have already been demonstrated in many agricultural activities. Conventional tasks such as tilling, sowing, harvesting of grains, can be performed using autonomous robots with the accuracy provided by the vehicle itself (currently about ±2 cm when using GNSS technology). For other tasks that demand the use of vision to follow trajectories, the current accuracy is approximately ±7 cm.”
When it comes to using robots with intelligent tools, the achievements are promising.
“Autonomous tractors carrying herbicide sprayers coordinating with drones equipped with weed-detection systems have proven to save up to 75% of the herbicide. Autonomous tractors equipped with on-board weed detection systems are able to kill 90% of weeds on a field.”
Bosch startup ‘Deepfield Robotics’ also develops technologies for sustainable farming. “Our products are sensor networks and robots”, says Birgit Schulz.
Their robots navigate plant rows, sense the plants, and send the data to the farmers to help optimise seed breeding. If equipped with a “weed puncher”, the robot can literally drive weeds into the ground. Deepfield Robotics also provides smart sensors that can be positioned in the fields. Resulting networks are already deployed in farms to monitor soil conditions for asparagus.
Source: Deepfield Robotics
There are however many challenges ahead. Pablo Gonzalez de Santos says “Technical developments are required to identify fruits and analyse their degree of ripeness in harsh conditions (changing light conditions, presence of dust, extreme temperatures, wind variations), as well as to detect weeds. Robot position accuracy also has to be enhanced to help optimise pesticide applications and the precision of manipulation. Although industrial manipulators exhibit very good accuracy and speed in factories, their application in farming is more difficult due to the objects moving, being soft and delicate, and obstacle-rich environments.” Just imagine what it takes to pick a sweet pepper from a plant, compared to grabbing a bolt on an assembly line. As it turns out, sweet pepper harvesting is the subject of the recent Horizon2020 Sweeper project, which follows a previous EU project called Crops.
Eldert van Henten says, “It’s not just vision, tactile sensing would also be helpful to pick peppers out of a busy scene. Farmers definitely use touch. ”
Source: Sweeper project
And as is often the case in robotics, the lack of clear regulation is causing a headache for companies entering the field.
“Safety is an issue – robots have to be capable of detecting what is going on in their surroundings and act accordingly to protect humans, wildlife, and themselves from crashes and accidents”, says Pablo Gonzalez de Santos. He adds that, “it is completely unclear who carries responsibilities for injuries caused by autonomous ground robots. The legislation for drones is also restrictive, requiring special authorisations, even for research purposes. “
Birgit Schulz agrees that safety and regulation considerations are paramount and raises questions regarding how to “define and implement the right degree of autonomy for the robot” as well as a number of logistical considerations including “How does the robot get to the field? How can we make it easy to use the robot? What happens if a robot gets stuck?”
The good news is that farms are already open to new technologies being deployed and the investments that are required. You just need to look at some of their equipment to see the high-tech machinery in place. A little known fact: farms are already amongst the most prominent adopters of robotic technology.
Lely, which is based in the Netherlands, has a fleet of over 20,000 milking robots installed throughout the world. The Lely Astronaut A4 box allows cows to be milked when they choose so, instead of when the farmer needs it to be done. The robot attaches incoming cows to the teat cups, reattaches them if required, and detaches them after milking. As an added bonus, data about the cows is collected, which can help the farmer monitor the herd and take action should a problem arrive, or simply to improve yield.
And the farm of tomorrow will include many robots working together. The MARS project, which stands for Mobile Agricultural Robot Swarms, demonstrated a cloud-based approach to farming at Hannover Messe last week. By deploying many simpler and smaller robots, they hope to make their farm-solutions safer, more reliable, and productive, while avoiding soil compaction that comes with larger robots navigating the fields. A swarm could also provide continuous operation, by having robots take turns charging or undergoing maintenance.
Source: MARS project
It’s an all around exciting time to deploy robots on farms, and there is a clear need to do so given the drive for increased food production, and sustainability. Steps are currently being made to develop the technology that will enable the automation of individual tasks before integration in a “digital farm” that will empower farmers to run operations in a fulfilling and efficient way. But there is still a lot of work to do. Eldert van Henten says robots will need to be “quick, precise, 100% successful, and cost-effective” before we can hope to see them on our farms. But, he adds, there is a “trend towards human-robot co-working. With one or more robots doing (part of) the job while being supervised, instructed by a human, or jointly working with a human. This might improve acceptance and feasibility of robotics technology for the more challenging tasks in agriculture”.
