Technology for a sustainable farming future

26 June, 2020

With its ongoing research into advanced agricultural robotics, Yanmar is taking on the challenge of showing the possibilities and potential benefits of increased precision farming techniques in the future. Whether automated and robot tractors working the fields will become a familiar sight remains to be seen, but it’s hard to argue against using technology to sustainably increase quality and yields from the land.

And if the sound of drones hovering over crops means that farmers are able to identify growth patterns and nutrient needs, and then deliver pesticides and fertilizers with pin-point accuracy with a fleet of robots, then surely that will be a welcome addition to the tools currently used in our fields.

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 Footnote

Other partners involved in the SMASH project include:

EDI: A mechanical and electronic engineering company that helped develop the mobile base of the robotic system.

AvMap: technology and sensors for mobile base navigation.

Base s.r.l.: data transmission, data processing, cloud data storage.

Seintech: data analysis, data mining and machine learning.

Florence University, Agriculture Department: development of the end effectors.

IIT (Italian Institute of Technology): robotic system (Plantoid) to monitor and analyse the soil.

Sant'Anna Bio Robotic Institute: development of a manipulator to be installed on the robotic arm, to collect samples and manipulate items.

Copernico: preparation of drone for monitoring and mapping.

DORIAN: technologies and algorithms for machine vision.

Giuntini Filippo: agronomist.