Farmers Review Africa July/Aug 2017 Farmers Review Africa July/Aug 2017 | Page 72
Tech & innovation
Robot automatically combats weeds
A robot automatically identi es weeds in a eld automatically identi ed in the various crops and using the funding from the Ministry to buy the
and combats them with a short laser pulse. combatted in a targeted way. “e robot shoots parts needed to construct a prototype.
Sustainable agriculture, which avoids the use of the leaves of the unwanted plants with short herbicides as far as possible, could bene t from laser pulses, which causes a weakening in their Diverse support from the University of Bonn
this smart idea. Dr. Julio Pastrana and Tim vitality,” reports Dr. Pastrana. “It is thus Prof. Stachniss is supporting the start-up in
Wigbels from the Institute of Geodesy and predicted that we will no longer need to use various ways: Pastrana and Wigbels can thus use
Geoinformation at the University of Bonn are herbicides on our elds and the environment laboratories at the institution and consult with
convinced of this. With an EXIST Business Start- will be protected,” adds Wigbels.
up Grant from the Federal Ministry for
colleagues there. What's more, Rüdiger Wolf from
Technology Transfer at the University of Bonn
Economic Affairs and Energy, the scientists are Before forming the start-up, Dr. Pastrana helped the start-up to submit the application for
now driving forward the development of this worked in robotics and researched automated the EXIST funding. “e advice was very helpful,”
practical tool for eld work. image interpretation techniques with Prof. says Dr. Pastrana, delighted. Both scientists would
Cyrill Stachniss from the Institute of Geodesy also like to participate in the start-up round tables
and Geoinformation at the University of Bonn. organized by Technology Transfer in order to
ose who want a rich harvest need to drive back
weeds so that the crops can grow better. In Dr. Pastrana completed his doctorate on the bene t from the experience of other start-ups.
organic agriculture, herbicides are ruled out as detection and classi cation of weeds with the e EXIST grant also enables them to attend
they are considered toxic chemicals, and aid of statistical models at Leibniz Universität training programs to prepare them for the
unwanted plants must be laboriously weeded Hannover and built an earlier version of the challenges of independence.
out. If the expectations of Dr. Julio Pastrana and robot there with a colleague. Wigbels studied Tim Wigbels are correct, this time-consuming Computer Engineering at RWTH Aachen work can soon be taken care of by robots. University and then worked in soware current sustainability topic,” says transfer advisor
Laser-based weed control can eliminate development within a company. Rüdiger Wolf. He says the analyses of the market
e researchers are now pushing forward their sound. Pastrana is convinced of the bene ts of the
start-up "Escarda Technologies" for one year at laser-based technique for new agricultural
herbicides
e computer scientists in the Photogrammetry
“e idea combines innovative robots with a
and competition for such an application are
Laboratory at the Institute for Geodesy and the University of Bonn with an EXIST grant machinery: “Our aim is to contribute to achieving
Geoinformation at the University of Bonn are from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs more sustainable agriculture.” At the Bonn Idea
currently developing a novel system: using and Energy. “It is now a case of nding investors Exchange by the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg Chamber of
cameras on an all-terrain robot vehicle or even a and further developing the business plan for the Commerce and Industry, both founders won an
tractor add-on, unwanted wild weeds should be start-up,” says Wigbels. e researchers are also award for the best start-up idea.
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