Wide-ranging adoption of robotics in agriculture can prove to be the watershed moment for the industry, which is looking to discover new grounds of efficiency and precision.   

FREMONT, CA: Technology and agriculture form a potent combination, and together, they have the potential to impact food production in more ways than one. Recent years have seen the rapid evolution of robots into highly intelligent machines. With the options of customization, robots, specifically designed to carry out tasks in the field of agriculture, are creating waves in the sector. As traditional practices lose relevance, sustainability gains importance, and consumption patterns evolve, robotics offers a significant amount of scope for modernizing agriculture. Agriculture technology (Agtech) firms that have emerged from the intersection of agriculture and advanced technologies are extending ambitious yet feasible solutions that have the power to revolutionize agriculture on many levels. The prospects that robotics has in enhancing agriculture are significant, and it's no surprise that robots will become commonplace in the agricultural setting.   

• Overcoming Labor Shortage with Robots

The demand for food crops is increasing. However, there is a shortage of farm labor in many parts of the world today. The existing workforce is also growing older, with the average age of farmers exceeding 50 according to a report. With robotics, devices that can assist older farmers and help them practice their profession for longer, are set to make a lot of difference. Robotic gloves, made of lightweight material, help farmers work conveniently even when they are suffering from weak bones or arthritis. Robotic wearables are going to be an impactful addition to the agriculturists’ tool shed. Besides, with devices like fruit-picking farm robots, the dependence on manual labor will reduce, and delays will be minimized, freeing up resources, and unearthing new levels of efficiency. 

See Also: Top Agtech Startups

• Automated Weed Removal

Weed can be a point of bother for farmers. Weed removal is intensive and time-taking. Older methods of weed removal like plowing are not preferred anymore. As an alternative, farmers use herbicides, which lead to resistant varieties of weed that don't respond to chemical treatment, worsening the problem. Robotics can tackle the menace of weeds with weed removal robots. Agtech companies have come up with robotic equipment that are trained with machine learning to identify several varieties of weed. These robots can remove weed without affecting crops, simplifying the process.

• Versatile Drones and Unmanned Systems