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Agbots (AgricultuRAL ROBOTS) Automation and robotics are already making farming much more scientific and productive, while reducing labour costs. But that’s only a small part of the story, as Dr David Maddison explains . . . W hile much has been written about robots in industry, most people would not be aware that robots are already making inroads on Australia’s farms. In fact, with the general shortage of available rural workers, in the future we will see far fewer humans and many more robots on farms. A great deal of the work of farms is seasonal, for example, lots of workers (and machines) are needed at harvest times but not many in mid winter. But if it were not for large numbers of young tourists working their way around Australia, many farms, particularly those involving vineyards, orchards and market gardens, would have insufficient labour to harvest their crops. Are robots the answer? We’ve seen how huge advances have been and are being 14 Silicon Chip made in robot technology. These robots don’t simply have the potential to reduce labour costs on farms and increase productivity, they could ultimately replace most of the workers on farms – and among many other benefits, lower the use of herbicides by selective destruction of weeds and lower the amount of fertiliser needed by specifically targeting growing crop plants. Some applications of agricultural robots are relatively easy to implement, such as harvesting wheat or corn; the machine simply follows a preprogrammed route up and down a paddock using GPS navigation. Other applications are more challenging, such as deciding which fruit is ripe to pick and guiding a robot arm to the desired location while avoiding damage to other parts of the tree. Or harvesting carrots, for example: machine vision dis- Celebrating 30 Years siliconchip.com.au This graphic shows precision agriculture concepts including the use of sensing to obtain crop and soil data, high precision guidance of agricultural machinery and robots, geomapping of fields and variable rate technology that can apply more or less chemicals as required. Note that while satellites are depicted in this image, sensing and mapping is more generally done with agricultural drones. tinguishes between a weed and a desired plant. Weeds are either left in place or, with really advanced robots, targeted for destruction at the same time the carrot is harvested. More complex still could be deciding which parts of a fruit tree, vine or other type of plant to prune. And what about shearing a sheep or other animal with a fleece? That’s been possible for almost 40 years, even if not widely implemented (see panel). Agricultural robots can work around the clock and can do routine cultivation and prevent major weed outbreaks or infestations of destructive insects. Multiple robots could also be deployed, each of which would patrol a selected area for weeds or to harvest crops. Crop monitoring tegrity of fence lines and gates, milking cows and so on. Internationally, a very large variety of different agricultural robots are either under development or in production, so we will discuss some representative examples of different types. Categories of agricultural robots At the most basic level an agricultural robot could be a tractor, harvester or truck which has had automated guidance installed and can therefore be operated with or without a driver. Some such vehicles are designed to be autonomous and have no provision for a driver. There are also dedicated ground-based robots to perform tasks such as harvesting, weeding or herding. Finally, there are aerial drones for observation or spraying. The use of agricultural robots is closely linked with the concept of “precision agriculture”. This involves measurement and observation of crops to account for individual variability of plants or specific areas which may require more or less fertiliser, water, pesticide, herbicide etc. This minimises use of chemicals and ensures more uniformity in crops. In fact, it has been estimated that at least fifty percent of agricultural chemicals are wasted; robots could make a large difference. Agricultural drones can surveil crops using optical imaging at different wavelengths to obtain data about productivity in different areas. This could suggest that certain parts of a field might need more fertiliser or other treatment, determine crop maturity or count numbers and locations of animals. Some agricultural drones can also deliver chemicals such as pesticide or herbicide to selected locations. Apart from the applications mentioned above, agricultural robots are already being used for planting seeds or seedlings, nursery planting (plantIncrease in soil stress due to ing seeds in pots), thinning out crops heavier machinery. as they mature, environmental moniImage source: Australian toring, soil analysis, fertilising and Government Grains Research and Development Corporation irrigation, herding, checking the insiliconchip.com.au Celebrating 30 Years Large machines compress the soil Over the years, farm machinery such as tractors and harvesters have become much larger and heavier, so that huge areas can be ploughed, seeded and harvestJune 2018  15 New Holland’s IntelliTurn system. In this diagram the boundary fence is shown in the graphic image. The yellow line represents the path that the tractor was first driven around the boundary fence to program the system and delineate the maximum extent to which the tractor can be physically driven within the boundary fence. After the limits are programmed in that manner the system software maps out the path of the rows that are to be planted or harvested. These are indicated by the straight lines. The area between the yellow boundary line and the inner blue line in the map at the upper right of the diagram is the turning area and is not sown or harvested. The red line indicates the current path of the tractor. The bottom right part of the image shows the operator display. Video “IntelliTurn™ Intelligent Automatic End of Row Turn System” https://youtu.be/44WohoJ6D20 New Holland NHDrive concept autonomous tractor with implement. It is based on a standard model New Holland T8 Auto Command tractor. This is made by CNH Industrial, the same corporation as makes the John Deere brand. This tractor appears like a regular tractor as it has a cab but can be used in either autonomous mode or with a driver for tasks which are not currently suitable for autonomous operation. It can be remotely controlled and monitored via a laptop computer or tablet. The Case IH autonomous tractor with equipment in tow. There is no provision for a driver on this vehicle. 16 Silicon Chip ed very quickly. However, those heavier machines mean much more loading on the soil, notwithstanding the fact that these larger vehicles have multiple larger tyres. Between 1930 and 2012 there was a 14-fold increase in machinery size with a subsequent increase in soil stress beneath the machinery’s tyres of approximately six times. This increase in soil loading causes compaction which results in areas of less-productive and even unproductive soil. Using a greater number of smaller and lighter agricultural robots will result in greatly reduced soil compaction and hence greater productivity. In addition, having multiple smaller less expensive robots rather than one larger machine, whether it be autonomous or with a driver, allows greater redundancy in the event of a machine failure. And lighter machines can go out when the ground is soft after rain with less chance of becoming bogged. On the other hand, smaller robots may be less productive than the larger manned or autonomous machines they might replace because they would be narrower and thus able to harvest or plant less in a single pass, as well as possibly being slower. This lesser productivity can be mitigated by having the robot work for 24 hours a day, as compared to a human operated vehicle. Or multiple cheaper robots may do the same work as a single large autonomous machine for the same or lower total cost. Semi-automated and driverless robotic tractors Driverless tractors, like autonomous cars, use various sensors to observe the environment, avoid obstacles and determine position etc. And like present autonomous cars, they have a human controller or external supervisor to monitor operations. Driverless tractors have their origins in precision agriculture which was developed in the 1980s to enable farmers to more efficiently work their fields with the aid of GPS guidance. This was further developed into semi-automated tractors whereby the tractor would follow straight lines when sowing seed or harvesting but the driver would have to manually steer the tractor at the end of each seed or crop row. New Holland’s IntelliTurn system uses the tractor’s guidance to follow straight lines but also controls the end of row turns which were normally done by the driver. The system can also work with irregularly-shaped fields and obstacles such as trees. Driverless tractors were first developed around 2011 with the concept being for one driverless tractor to follow a tractor with a driver in a “follow me” mode, enabling one driver to control two machines and thus doubling labour productivity. Similarly, a harvesting machine could have a driverless truck follow for continuous collection of grain. Today, driverless tractors are mainly divided into two types, either with full autonomy or supervised autonomy. Some driverless tractors may also have a cab to accommodate a driver for jobs not amenable to driverless mode. Tractors with full autonomy use fixed transponders around a field for precise location with links via lasers and/or radio signals. Human controllers then monitor tractor operations from a central location. Many modern tractors can also be retrofitted for autonomous operation by using the CAN (Controller Area Network) bus system for controlling them via the addition of a computer, radio and GPS system. Celebrating 30 Years siliconchip.com.au CAN is the now almost-universal control bus that allows microcontrollers to communicate with the hardware to steer the vehicle and perform other operations. Most modern trucks and cars utilise the CAN bus. In supervised autonomy, the driverless vehicle follows the vehicle with a driver and they communicate via a V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle technology) radio link. This is defined by the WAVE standard or “Wireless Access for Vehicular Environments” in the US or ETSI ITS-G5 in Europe. It operates in the WiFi spectrum at around 5.9GHz. Autonomous tractors provide increased fuel efficiency due to driving the minimum necessary distance and reduce wastage of seed when sowing as the rows are planted accurately. Sensors mounted on tractors can measure soil and crop conditions before and after harvest time. They can also operate at night, stopping only to refuel and for routine checks. Companies currently developing and/or manufacturing semi-automated or autonomous tractors include John Deere, Case IH (both owned by CNH Industrial), Autonomous Tractor Corporation and Fendt. Autonomous tractors require situational awareness and this is provided by a variety of radar sensors to detect metallic or water-containing objects and video cameras which transmit a live video feed back to the operator. If an object is sensed in the path of the machine it automatically stops and awaits further instructions. If the obstacle is removed, the machine will restart. A video showing autonomous tractor concepts from CNH Industrial is: “The CNH Industrial Autonomous Tractor Concept (Full Version)” https://youtu.be/T7Os5Okf3OQ Autonomous mowers Agricultural robots are not just restricted to commercial environments. There are now large numbers of robot lawn mowers available to the consumer. Brands and models of robotic lawn mowers include the Husqvarna Automower, John Deere, the Landroid M, the Denna L600, Lawnba Robotic Lawnmower E1800, various models from Ambrogio, Techline, Belrobotis, Exgain, Robomow, Honda, Flymo, Bosch, Viking iMow, McCulloch and Gardena. John Deere E5 TANGO Series II autonomous lawn mower. The mower is of the mulching variety meaning that cuttings are not collected. If the battery charge becomes low it parks itself in a charging station and it is also sufficiently quiet that it can operate at night. siliconchip.com.au The sheep-shearing robot that worked well . . . but never quite made it! A robot sheep shearer is among the most challenging agricultural robot and artificial intelligence applications. In 1979 a sheep shearing robot called The Oracle was developed by Professor James Trevelyan at the University of Western Australia but was only intended as a research prototype. It’s successor “Shear Magic” (SM) clipped 400 fleeces between 1985 and 1993 with a lower injury rate to the animal than from human shearers. SM achieved commercially realistic shearing speeds by 1993. The research was funded by the Australian Wool Industry alongside biological defleecing experiments. A South Australian company also developed their own robot shearing technology. Just as the robots were ready, a huge financial crisis in the wool industry stopped commercialisation. While they were never used in shearing sheds, the robots helped moderate shearers’ wage claims after 1987. These benefits have far exceeded the research costs. Nearly 30 years on, labour shortages in the wool industry have re-awakened interest. Robots may be shearing for a living within a decade. See video: “Robot Sheep Shearing” https://youtu. be/6ZAh2zv7TMM Celebrating 30 Years June 2018  17 For example, the John Deere TANGO E5 Series II domestic mower works within a perimeter boundary delineated by a buried wire. Within that perimeter the mower moves randomly to mow the lawn, much like a robot vacuum cleaner. There are many videos on line which demonstrate the use of robotic/autonomous mowers, over plots from tiny suburban lawns (why would you bother!) through to large turf farms. However, some of these are merely manufacturer’s marketing spiels and, while interesting, are rightly criticised for highlighting their opposition’s shortcomings while emphasising their own strengths. Search for “robotic lawn mowers” on YouTube. Fruit picking robots Robotic milking Milking cows has traditionally been a highly labour intensive process accounting for 50-70% of labour expended on dairy farms. Cows must be milked twice every day. The process of milking consists of the following tasks: bringing the cows to the milking location and booth, inspection and cleaning of udder/teats, attachment of teat cups to teats, extracting milk, removing the teat cups and returning the animals to the paddocks. Each cow has an electronic tag which allows a record of the milk production of each animal. Most of the above processes have previously been achieved with a semi-automatic milking process. The most challenging process to implement was the automatic attachment of the teat cups, although this has now been achieved and is used routinely. Some manufacturers offer retrofit equipment to turn semi-automatic milking operations into fully automatic ones. Apart from increases in farm productivity, a University of Sydney Dairy Research Foundation study found that robotically-milked cows are calmer and less stressed than conventionally milked ones. Gives a whole new meaning to that many-decades-old advertising slogan “from contented cows . . .”. Videos: “Australia Wide: Robotic dairy farming - Australia Plus” https://youtu.be/ULzUCo 2AlA; “Totally automated milking - Robotic milking (1/5)” https://youtu.be/ If7iA4sMpF8 and subsequent parts in the series; and “Lely: Happy Cows, Good Milk” https://youtu.be/XtSIU5BCOYw FFRobotics fruit picking robot arm. FFRobotics www.ffrobotics.com is an Israeli company that has developed a fruit picking robot that has slender straight robotic arms that emulate a human picker and can be programmed to pick a variety of different fruits such as apples, citrus, peach and pears. It is said to be able to pick the fruit without bruising and pick fruit at ten times the rate of a human picker. It utilises Robot Operating System for its basic software suite, machine vision and machine learning to learn the characteristics of particular fruits and orchards. The robot is in the final stages of development and has been tested in Canada, Israel and the USA and is expected to move into production toward the end of 2018. Videos at “Automatic fruit picker demonstration by FF Robotics : IFTA 2017” https://youtu.be/UaL3UxUclKY and “FF Robotoics Apple Harvester” https://youtu.be/ c0y92xMl7F0 FFRobotics main vehicle containing control equipment and collection mechanism. Note the row of collected fruit ready to be loaded into the hopper. Robotic arm for milk extraction showing brush (orange and white) to clean and apply sterilising solution to teats before the teat cups are attached. They are located using laser and ultrasound position sensors. 18 Silicon Chip Another company developing a robot that specialises in picking apples is California-based Abundant Robotics (www.abundantrobotics.com). It uses machine vision to identify apples but instead of a robot hand it uses a vacuum tube to suck the fruit off the tree and into a hopper. This machine is being trialled during picking season and alternates between Washington state in the USA and Warragul in Victoria. No release date for this machine has been announced. Videos: “Robotic apple picker trials continue in Washington” https://youtu.be/mS0coCmXiYU Celebrating 30 Years siliconchip.com.au Crop and livestock monitoring, analysis, spraying and bird scaring with aerial drones Abundant Robotics robot apple picker. Note the vacuum nozzle which is positioned over the apple which is then sucked from the tree. Energid (www.energid.com) in the USA is also developing a citrus picking robot but unlike the others it uses multiple arms and cuts the stem rather than grabbing the fruit. Energid citrus harvesting robot. Video: “Robotic Citrus Harvesting” https://youtu.be/Gf60au-U318 Agricultural unmanned aerial systems or drones can be used for observation of crops and livestock, spraying herbicides and pesticides and even scaring away crop-eating birds. Information gathered by drones can be used to determine soil and plant health, fertiliser needs, location of pests and crop damage due to adverse weather. As with other drones, agricultural drones come in two main varieties, fixed wing and rotary wing such as quadcopters. Fixed wing drones have the advantage of longer range and duration but require a suitable place to take off and land while rotary wing types are more manoeuvrable and can easily hover or land, say for example, to spray weeds or pests that might be discovered. For an imaging mission one figure cited is that a fixedwing drone can cover ten times the area of a rotary wing one. On the other hand, a rotary wing drone might be able to capture higher quality imagery due to its slower speed. One important data parameter that can be collected by drones is the NDVI or normalised differential vegetation index. It is a measure of the difference of red light absorbed by plants and the infrared light reflected from plants. The less red light reflected, the healthier the plant. Less healthy areas of a crop can have additional fertiliser or irrigation applied. The presence of invasive weeds can also be determined. Scientific Aerospace (http://sci.aero) is an Australian company that makes imaging drones suitable for agricultural use. One example where one of the company’s drones was used to improve farm productivity was as follows. A 10 minute survey of a 30 hectare paddock was made to create a 3D model of the land with 20cm contours. This enabled NDVI map of a barley crop. Darker colours are bare ground, green is either normal or stressed barley with minimal fertilisation and red and yellow is lush, healthy and dense barley with high levels of fertilisation. Image source: Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture. siliconchip.com.au Celebrating 30 Years June 2018  19 Two Australian-made drones that can be used for agricultural applications, among others. On the left is the fixed-wing Lynx FarScight, with a mission duration of up to 3 hours. On the right is a quadcopter from the same company. Videos: “Lynx FarScight - Hand Launch Long Endurance High Precision Surveying Aircraft”; https://youtu.be/e5yYwTHs-PE and “4Scight - Safe VTOL High Precision Aerial Surveying Solution” https://youtu.be/YSGKpelSPXc the farmer to design a system of weirs and dams at appropriate locations to restore the landscape by reducing erosion and improving the productivity of the land. The DJI Agras MG-1S is an example of an octocopter-format drone designed for variable rate delivery of liquids such as pesticides, fertilisers, herbicides or fungicides to crops. An updated version of the earlier MG-1, it can carry a payload of 10kg or around 10 litres of liquid and can cover 0.4 to 0.6 hectares in 10 minutes. The MG-1 can deliver a spray width of 4 to 6 metres at 1.5 to 3 metres height above the crop. After depletion of the battery a new one can be inserted for continued spraying operations. Aerial (drone) contract photography An interesting application of an agricultural drone is for scaring away birds from various crops. A drone is fitted with a loud speaker and flies above the crop emitting sounds that scare away birds to prevent them eating the produce. In one application on a farm in the Ord Valley in the Kimberley of WA a bird scaring drone was flown twice per day for one hour which kept the property mostly free of birds. It replaces multiple gas guns and other bird scaring devices as well as people on the ground chasing away birds with quadbikes. It saved $2000 per day plus saved crops. While much of this feature has concentrated on the equipment needed to make life easier for farmers, another industry has emerged specialising in providing dronebased services. For example, a company based in Canowindra (central NSW) called “Farmpix” specialises in drone photography of rural properties (among other things!) where property owners don’t have their own equipment or expertise. Owner Chris Watson says that he has worked throughout NSW and into both Victoria and Queensland will basically “go anywhere” a customer asks. You can see many fine examples of rural Farmpix drone photography at www.facebook.com/chriswatsonfarmpix – but as an aside, while on the site check out the breathtaking drone video of Wyangala Dam and the Lachlan River in flood during September 2016! There is a variety of farm and rural images on the Farmpix site but equally, there’s a lot more you don’t see as they are specifically contracted to the property owner concerned. The three photos opposite are just some of the examples Chris has placed on his website. He also loves taking drone pictures of hot-air balloons, with Canowindra known as the hot-air balloon capital of Australia! The DJI Agras MG-1S agricultural spraying drone. Videos: An Australian video “DJI – Introducing the Agras MG-1” https://youtu.be/dCHvICOJ7mY and “DJI MG-1S Agricultural Wonder Drone” https://youtu.be/P2YPG8PO9JU Bird Scarer Payload fitted to an AgStar Agriculture Drone from Rise Above Custom Drone Solutions, Smeaton Grange, NSW. This drone can be fitted with a variety of quick-swap payloads from that shown above through to multi-spectral cameras, thermal imagers, seed and bugspreaders, a remote water sampler and can transmit live video back to a ground operator with full data telemetry from the drone. RPAS Manufacturer Training is included in the AgStar package and they can also assist in the user in obtaining government UAV Operator’s Certificate (UOC) required for commercial use. (www.riseabove.com.au/ agstar-precision-ag-drone) Airborne bird scaring 20 Silicon Chip Celebrating 30 Years siliconchip.com.au Three examples of Chris Watson’s “Farmpix” drone photos of farms and farming in NSW. And yes, he does work in the middle of the night if the farmer needs photos of night-time operations! Disease detection in livestock The Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR) has developed a machine vision system to automatically detect lameness in dairy cattle. See video “Automatic Dairy Cattle Lameness Detection System” https://youtu.be/NlnLyZxv37A the same time minimise the amount of chemicals used as only one particular weed plant will be treated at a time. Agbot II is an agricultural robot developed by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). According to QUT, “the robot’s cameras, sensors, software and other electronics enable it to navigate through a field, apply fertiliser, de- Robotic weed control In Australia it is estimated that every year $1.5 billion is spent on weed control operations and that there is an additional $2.6 billion dollar losses in agricultural production. Furthermore, many weeds have now evolved resistance to common herbicides and require more exotic herbicides or physical means such as mechanical implements, a blow torch or even microwaves to kill. With machine vision, artificial intelligence and machine learning a robots can identify a particular weed and use the appropriate herbicide or other method to kill it and at siliconchip.com.au Agbot II by QUT. Celebrating 30 Years June 2018  21 tect and classify weeds, and kill weeds either mechanically or chemically, providing a tool for farmers to help reduce operational costs and efficiency losses”. It is designed to be light weight to minimise issues with soil compaction, to be low in cost so multiple robots can be utilised, to be able to communicate via the Internet so remote weed classification software can be used and to operate autonomously with multiple weed destruction methods. Videos: “AgBot II: A New Generation Tool for Robotic Site-Specific Crop and Weed Management” https://youtu. be/15tovWSnJe0, “AgBot II Trials for Autonomous Navigation” https://youtu.be/2cAoKdJ4W2Y nating any handling damage. The fruits are detected by a colour and infrared 3D sensing system. Autonomous navigation down crop rows is achieved with the aid of a LiDAR system. Capsicum harvesting robot Qeensland University of Technology is developing a capsicum harvesting robot. To date there has been limited success in developing such a robot but QUT is making excellent progress with initial results indicating a fruit harvesting success rate of 65% and a detachment rate of 90%. Robotic “mule” Harvey, the capsicum harvesting robot. Suggested video: “Harvey the Robotic Capsicum (Red Pepper) Harvester” https://youtu.be/8rq4iSTsg68 The HDT Global ground drone for delivering up to 500kg of supplies on properties in northern Australia. Meat and Livestock Australia has recently established an arrangement with HDT Global (www.hdtglobal.com) to deploy their “ground drone” for use on six cattle stations in northern Australia. It is the same drone as currently used by the US military to deliver payloads of up to 500kg. The drone will be evaluated for its usability and also for what attachments can be produced to improve its value on cattle stations. Robotic strawberry harvester Agrobot (http://agrobot.com) is a Spanish company that makes robotic strawberry harvesters. Machines can be configured with as many as 24 robot arms to pick strawberries at the desired level of maturity and the robots can be used around the clock. The fruit is removed by cutting the stem thereby elimiWall-Ye’s MYCE_Vigne vineyard tending robot. Video: “MYCE_Vigne: taille cordon de Royat” https://youtu.be/ DKTSB0LEbFQ Vineyard tending robots Agrobot robotic strawberry harvester. Suggested video: “AGROBOT Robotic Strawberry Harvester” https://youtu.be/ M3SGScaShhw 22 Silicon Chip Wall-Ye (http://wall-ye.com), Vision Robotics (www. visionrobotics.com) Grapevine Pruner and VineScout (http://vinescout.eu/web) have vineyard tending robots at various stages of development or in manufacture. Wall-Ye is a French company that makes the MYCE_ Vigne. It is commercially available from €9,000 and can perform robot pruning, weeding, suckering, mowing, hoeing and is fully autonomous and solar electric powered. Celebrating 30 Years siliconchip.com.au Making your own agricultural robot: the Farmbot Genesis FarmBot XL with a variety of plants in the garden. Note the longitudinal tracks on each side of the planter box and the transverse track holding the tool head at the back. The control electronics is not visible. You can make your own agricultural robot called the FarmBot (https:// farm.bot) FarmBot is designed to tend a vegetable patch with a variety of tools for planting, weeding, watering, soil moisture sensing etc. It’s in the form of a Cartesian-coordinate robot, (one that can move in a plane in the X-Y directions). The Farmbot Genesis model can tend a rectangular garden area of 2.9 x 1.4m with a plant height of 0.5m. You can either purchase speciallymade components or make them your- self with 3D printing from free Open Source plans. You’ll also need some standard hardware such as beams, motors and computer boards. For its main electronics it uses a Raspberry Pi 3 and and Arduino Mega 2560 with RAMPS 1.4 shield and a camera to record imagery. The robot can be controlled via a web interface from most Internet connected devices. A new model, the FarmBot Genesis XL, can tend an area 2.9 x 5.9m – more than four times greater than the earlier Genesis, with the same 500mm plant height. As a rough guide, if you decided to buy a kit rather than acquire the parts yourself the kit is at the time of writing selling for US$3795 plus shipping from FarmBot (note that SILICON CHIP has not tested the kit so you should determine its suitability yourself). Video: The latest FarmBot model “This is FarmBot Genesis XL” https://youtu.be/60htrqei_U0 FarmBot web-based interface on   various devices. Grapevine pruner Nursery planting (potting robot) Vision Robotics based in the USA also have a grapevine pruner under development, see video “Pruning Overview 2014 3” https://youtu.be/4Ov8g0smOF4 Another offering under development is by Europe-based VineScout. The VineScout robot is expected to be on the market by 2019/20. Did you ever wonder how the small pots of herbs and other small plants are potted for sale to major hardware and grocery retailers? You can see the mass production process in this video: “Transplant Systems Australia. High speed potting and herb sowing line” https://youtu.be/cUpn6Uw6gbM SC IN NEXT MONTH’S SILICON CHIP VineScout Robot siliconchip.com.au Continuing our theme of robotics and automation on farms, we’ll take a look at some of the worlds-best developments in the field particularly by two Australian universities – Sydney University and the University of New England at Armidale – and specifically the UNE’s “Smart Farm”. Both were exhibitors in “The Farm of the Future” exhibition at this year’s Sydney Royal Easter Show and we took the opportunity to see what they had in store for Australian farmers. Don’t miss it: in the July issue of “SILICON CHIP.” Celebrating 30 Years June 2018  23