A Weed Destroying Robot
We talk a lot about how innovation is changing the food world and now comes a new weed destroying robot that could change the discussion about pesticides, herbicides and immigration.
It’s called BoniRobb and being developed in Germany by Bosch. BoniRobb destroys two weeds a second by poking them deep into the ground according to the company and is about the size of a compact car and cost about the same as a midsize tractor. It operates via GPS and can tell the difference between a weed and a crop based on it’s software analysis of thousands of images and bases its decisions from over 1,000 different properties including shape and characteristics of light.
In big agriculture boarder states like California, Florida and Arizona where illegal immigration has been strongly debated and fear of being caught has cut the workforce in practically half, this innovation can clearly pick up the slack and help farmers keep their yields at a profitable level, prevent wasted foods that are sitting on the ground and eliminate those unwanted pesticides.
While the first model has been designed to just eliminate weeds, this technology can clearly evolve to actually pick fruits and vegetables that would normally be picked by hand and in some cases in fields that can reach over 110 degrees.
The potential for this driverless vehicle is endless and could not only be a a consumers and farmers best friend, but could help eliminate food safety outbreaks especially from eColi that is all too commonly found in fields that do not have proper sanitation and toilet facilities.