Robots offer ‘goldmine’ of information for growing crops
When a tall, thin robot was introduced to visitors at University of Illinois test plots July 13, it was reminiscent of early “Star Wars” movies, when such robots were science fiction.
Today, TERRA-MEPP is very real. They are expected to be available to seed companies later this year and on a larger scale in 2018.
Some companies are already testing them, said Girish Chowdhary, CSL assistant professor director of the Distributed Autonomous Systems Laboratory, which conducts research in autonomous decision making for robotic systems.
TERRA-MEPP had muddy “feet” as its tracks moved along the wet soil, but it advanced smoothly through the field at the 2017 Food and Fuel Field Day demonstration.
“The key is to keep the cost of the hardware low and get data to use for plant breeders,” said Chowdhary, a professor of agricultural and biological engineering.
TERRA-MEPP can collect information on emergence, height, biomass and canopy temperature, for example.
Earlier in the day, visitors saw a video of the robot counting corn for emergence rates, which will help seed companies evaluate their products. The robots are intended mainly for sale to seed companies and weed scientists for now, but some will eventually be sold to large farms as well.
The information can be quickly downloaded and used. The robot can even work in the field at night, said Chowdhary who was involved in developing more than 15 unmanned aerial systems (UAS) before directing his expertise toward the earthbound TERRA-MEPP robot.
TERRA-MEPP, an acronym for “Transportation Energy Resource from Renewable Agriculture-Mobile Energy Crop Phenotyping Platform,” is an autonomous robot that analyzes biofuel crops throughout the growing season to pinpoint plants with desirable yield and sustainability traits. Its smaller cousin does much of the same work but at a lower cost. The small version “at entry-level unit could cost as little as $5,000,” according to the TERRA-MEPP brochure.
One thing that has made the quick prototyping of the smaller version possible is that it is 3-D printed, so improved models could easily be modified and produced. The development of these robots started in 2016.
TERRA-MEPP can evaluate each corn plant’s performance in seconds. The robot drives between rows of crops, measuring the plants on each side simultaneously. This data will be used to link desirable visual crop traits (phenotype) with genes (genotype) that plant breeders can use to increase productivity in the next generation of crops, Chowdhary explained.
Visual sensors capture each plant, from above and below, using a fine-tuned spectrum to characterize each plant. Environmental sensors will evaluate several factors that affect the plant’s growth. Some of the specialized sensors and cameras on the large TERRA-MEPP are worth $30,000 each. The little robot, has less-expensive sensors and cameras — more in the range of hundreds of dollars.
There may be different versions of TERRA-MEPP for different needs.
“The vision is for teams and robots and drones to work together in a field,” said Chinmay Soman, co-founder and CEO of EarthSense, Inc., which is commercializing TERRA-MEPP. One of his long-term goals is to have the robots help with weed control.
“It took us five days to measure this part of the field. The robot can do it much faster,” said Samuel Fernandes, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois.
The data gathered from infrared cameras and other tools can help determine the plants’ water-use efficiency, he said.
“We have a goldmine (of information) to deal with,” said Fernandes.
He said robots can do the massive data gathering, giving researches time to analyze it and make it useable for plant breeders and ultimately farmers.
“I can imagine a whole team (of robots and or drones) doing a variety of tasks,” Soman said.