AI robots fill in for weed killers and farm hands

The Manila Times

AI robots fill in for weed killers and farm hands  Oblivious to the punishing midday heat, a wheeled robot powered by the sun and infused with artificial intelligence carefully combs a cotton field in California, plucking out weeds.  As farms across the United States face a shortage of laborers and weeds grow resistant to herbicides, startup Aigen says its robotic solution — named Element — can save farmers money, help the environment and keep harmful chemicals out of food.  AFP VIDEO  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe  Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net     Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Stitcher: https://tmt.ph/stitcher Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes #WorldNews

Transcript

00:00Just look at the people.

00:01We have to take a look at the cameras by the direction we can.

00:07You have to wait.

00:07I would like a regular, no.

00:10We can cut it out.

00:15No.

00:18More physicians asked for the information as well.

00:22So these cameras are pretty original.

00:25Whereas, last year's cameras were 1-8.

00:28...perfection ability, you could use them.

00:31That's so nice.

00:36...operations, versus if you have a single piece of machinery,

00:39if something happens to that...

00:41...upskilling that can be done to do that, we really like it.

00:44At this point, we have offset zero.

00:58So, we are going to have to let the grid here,

01:01and then we will go back to the grid.

01:03So, you are going to have to enter the grid...

01:06...and we can make sure that we open it up.

01:08...and we also have zero können over here.

01:10...and we can have all this.

01:12I would say once again, what could we add,

01:16...what would we do to open it up?

01:17And it seems like it's not important in that it is.

01:19...It is far more accurate.

01:20...and we can turn it over.

01:21...the dimension, therefore.

01:23...and we just leave it.

01:24All we need, we need to clean it up...

01:26Hi, Jen. Our mission is to regenerate earth with robotics and AI. If you look at some

01:40of the biggest global challenges in the world, agriculture is often overlooked. And me and

01:47my co-founder and the team that we've assembled here, we're working on the pillar of society,

01:52which is the crops, the food, the clothes that we wear. I've never heard of any farmer

01:58that says, I want to use chemicals more than they have to use, because it's an input cost,

02:03right? You just have to spend money to use more of it. If they could use less, they will

02:07use less. The way that we're addressing the weeding problem is going back to the old age

02:14technology of using a stick with a blade at the end of it, which we call a hull. And so

02:19we're combining the new robotics and AI with the old technology of a stick and a blade,

02:28putting it together and then delivering a solution to the farmers. What's very different and unique

02:33about us is that we've constrained our technology with the energy density of what the sun is

02:41able to provide. The same energy source that's able to grow the plants, we want to be able

02:46to use that to power the robots. So we do have batteries in the robot, but it does not require

02:54any swapping out the batteries or having to go to a fixed position for recharge. Each robot

03:01has 10 motors. Six of those motors are used for the arms on the robot. And as the robot drives by,

03:09it's able to identify the weed and basically plug it out with a hoe as it drives by with precision. So it

03:14actually strikes the weed and pulls it out as it goes by. So instead of saying, hey, we're going to

03:19ban these chemicals, what we want to do is provide an alternative that's lower cost than the existing

03:25solution. So it ends up not becoming a political issue. If you can just say we have a better solution,

03:30that's more affordable for possibly like the first time compared to chemicals. And that is also a win

03:37for the health and for the environment. We, you know, companies like iGen, they may be small now,

03:45but they're going to, we believe that they're going to be the industry giants of the future. So I think of

03:52like Ford and the Model T or Edison, the light bulb. Kenny and iGen are going to be, you know, industry giants of

04:00agriculture in the future. We're going to have their robots weeding farms all over the world.

04:30you

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