Autonomous agricultural robots for agriculture

Pixelfarming Robotics

Inka Krischke | Inka Krischke, 15.12.2021, 10:39

Autonomous agricultural robots for agriculture

How can farmers reconcile economic yields and ecological farming methods? Autonomous agricultural robots are seen as a promising solution here - for example from the Dutch company Pixelfarming Robotics.

Excessive fertilization and the use of pesticides continue to damage the fields. Insects, small animals and microorganisms are falling victim to these measures, which has a serious impact on soil fertility and plant fertilization. With Robot One, Pixelfarming Robotics has developed a completely electrically powered agricultural robot for weed control without pesticides. Depending on the task, the smart robots can be equipped with various tools such as hooks, streamers or spikes as well as sensors to remove weeds autonomously and without chemicals. A total of ten robot arms are available. These are all multifunctional and individually adjustable in terms of reach and working depth. There is also no need to compact the soil using heavy tractors.

However, operating in rough and dirty outdoor areas places special demands on the energy supply of the battery-powered vehicles. Energy solution providers such as the Freiburg-based tech company Wiferion rely on the concept of inductive energy transmission - the 'Wireless Charger' etaLINK 3000 is used for contactless charging of mobile robots and AGVs. As the charging solution is an encapsulated system with IP65 certification, it is so robust that it already meets all the requirements of automated agriculture. It has no open or conductive contacts, plugs or cables, so that moisture, dust and dirt cannot affect the power supply. The system works via plug-and-play and can currently charge with 3 kW power. The charger can supply all common battery types with power - regardless of the cell chemistry.

Varta estimates that the global market for agricultural robotics will grow to around 24 billion US dollars by 2023.

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