ASTERIX | Robot shoots herbicide only on weeds, reducing usage by more than 90%

Summary
The productivity in agriculture has improved enormously for the last 50 years. However, the increased yield comes at a cost. The fields producing our food are sprayed throughout the seasons with herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. We are facing major problems with resistant weeds and pesticide residues in food, soil and water. Farming needs to become more sustainable.
We want to contribute to a change of paradigm, starting with row crops. We are introducing an autonomous field robot, designed for tending of vegetables. The robot uses machine vision and our ultra-precise nozzle technology to shoot droplets of herbicide on each individual weed - not on the crop - not on the soil. This will reduce the amount of herbicide used by appx 95%.
There are many hundreds of different row crops, most too small to make it economically viable to develop specific herbicides. This, in combination with environmental problems and herbicide resistant weeds, means that the farmer has very few or no available herbicides. Our ability to only spray the weed will change this. Some weeds can also be left unsprayed, reducing genetic selection on herbicide resistance.
The system can also reduce insecticide application, observe plant stress and crop development. Our vision is that these robots are working days and nights, recording data from its fields, looking for problems to solve.
Adigo AS (www.adigo.no), is performing R&D within mechatronics in B2B relationships. We have been working for more than 10 years within precision farming, developing field robots for research and machine vision based sensors. We believe the timing now is very good for launching new products and methods in this market.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/736354
Start date: 01-08-2016
End date: 31-01-2017
Total budget - Public funding: 71 429,00 Euro - 50 000,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

The productivity in agriculture has improved enormously for the last 50 years. However, the increased yield comes at a cost. The fields producing our food are sprayed throughout the seasons with herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. We are facing major problems with resistant weeds and pesticide residues in food, soil and water. Farming needs to become more sustainable.
We want to contribute to a change of paradigm, starting with row crops. We are introducing an autonomous field robot, designed for tending of vegetables. The robot uses machine vision and our ultra-precise nozzle technology to shoot droplets of herbicide on each individual weed - not on the crop - not on the soil. This will reduce the amount of herbicide used by appx 95%.
There are many hundreds of different row crops, most too small to make it economically viable to develop specific herbicides. This, in combination with environmental problems and herbicide resistant weeds, means that the farmer has very few or no available herbicides. Our ability to only spray the weed will change this. Some weeds can also be left unsprayed, reducing genetic selection on herbicide resistance.
The system can also reduce insecticide application, observe plant stress and crop development. Our vision is that these robots are working days and nights, recording data from its fields, looking for problems to solve.
Adigo AS (www.adigo.no), is performing R&D within mechatronics in B2B relationships. We have been working for more than 10 years within precision farming, developing field robots for research and machine vision based sensors. We believe the timing now is very good for launching new products and methods in this market.

Status

CLOSED

Call topic

SMEInst-07-2016-2017

Update Date

27-10-2022
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Horizon 2020
H2020-EU.2. INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP
H2020-EU.2.3. INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
H2020-EU.2.3.1. Mainstreaming SME support, especially through a dedicated instrument
H2020-SMEINST-1-2016-2017
SMEInst-07-2016-2017 Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for sustainable and competitive agriculture, forestry, agri-food and bio-based sectors
H2020-SMEINST-2-2016-2017
SMEInst-07-2016-2017 Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for sustainable and competitive agriculture, forestry, agri-food and bio-based sectors
H2020-EU.3. SOCIETAL CHALLENGES
H2020-EU.3.2. SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy
H2020-EU.3.2.1. Sustainable agriculture and forestry
H2020-EU.3.2.1.0. Cross-cutting call topics
H2020-SMEINST-1-2016-2017
SMEInst-07-2016-2017 Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for sustainable and competitive agriculture, forestry, agri-food and bio-based sectors
H2020-SMEINST-2-2016-2017
SMEInst-07-2016-2017 Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for sustainable and competitive agriculture, forestry, agri-food and bio-based sectors
H2020-EU.3.2.2. Sustainable and competitive agri-food sector for a safe and healthy diet
H2020-EU.3.2.2.0. Cross-cutting call topics
H2020-SMEINST-1-2016-2017
SMEInst-07-2016-2017 Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for sustainable and competitive agriculture, forestry, agri-food and bio-based sectors
H2020-SMEINST-2-2016-2017
SMEInst-07-2016-2017 Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for sustainable and competitive agriculture, forestry, agri-food and bio-based sectors
H2020-EU.3.2.4. Sustainable and competitive bio-based industries and supporting the development of a European bioeconomy
H2020-EU.3.2.4.0. Cross-cutting call topics
H2020-SMEINST-1-2016-2017
SMEInst-07-2016-2017 Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for sustainable and competitive agriculture, forestry, agri-food and bio-based sectors
H2020-SMEINST-2-2016-2017
SMEInst-07-2016-2017 Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for sustainable and competitive agriculture, forestry, agri-food and bio-based sectors