Imagine a future where packs of robotic dogs take soil samples at your farm and swarms of bird-like drones count your livestock.
You won’t have to imagine for long, because the technology exists and is being trialed for use in rural Australia at the Charles Sturt University Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Futures Institute.
The robotic dogs and flapper drones will be on show during the two-day Digital Agrifood Summit (DAS24): Future-Fit Farming at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, which starts today.
Speaking with APlus News ahead of the event, the Institute’s Communication and Engagement Manager Matt Hof said the flapper drones looked like birds and used wings, instead of a bladed rotor, to propel it. Enticingly they use a lot less energy than other drones.
“The flapper drone is trying to mimic the natural advantages that birds have when flying,” Mr Hof said.
“It has an ability to be really agile and manoeuvre through woodlands and grasslands and also creates an efficient flying system.”
New technology helps farmers collect data quickly, cheaply and without causing damage. Pics: Supplied
Some of the uses so far include pest and weed identification, yield estimates, livestock monitoring, groundcover density and water monitoring, but Mr Hof said it was a “how long is a piece of string” situation as the options for use were endless, depending on the needs of different farming operations.
The devices aren’t manufactured at the institute, rather their technicians add the machine learning or automation to them as well as upgrading energy storage.
They’ve been working on the Flapper Drone, which is manufactured in Sweedon, for nearly 12 months - with a focus on swarm activation to do tasks autonomously.
“They operate as a team – a team of birds flying around your farm, surveillance, counting stock, reporting back on water levels," Mr Hof said.
"A lot of the advantages we’re seeing is that data collection."
Interestingly, a Flapper Drone, which travels at similar speeds to traditional drones, can carry 3 ½ times its weight. Through machine learning and artificial intelligence, it can fly through fields and identify pests and weeds.
At this stage the flapper drones are being used for research purposes only, working alongside the Global Digital Farm.
Mr Hof said they still required manual operation at the moment, but a lot of development work was focusing on swarm automation.
As for the robot dogs they are not robotic Kelpies, pre-programed to autonomously move livestock, nor a four-legged upgrade of Jeremy Clarkson’s barking rotor-blade drone from Clarkson's Farm.
While the robot looks like a dog, its function is data collection – particularly for tasks close to the ground like soil samples, and the identification of pests and weeds.
Additions like robotic arms or a drill type mechanism can be added for special requirements.
"They are a lot less intrusive than a tractor moving around the farm,” Mr Hof said.
There’s different versions, such as having wheels or feet, depending on what it’s purpose, and environment, will be.
Much like the Flapper Drones, the robot dogs can also be given upgraded "eyes", and take advantage of machine learning and AI for tasks like insect identification at ground level.
“Ground drones are slightly more expensive but that’s an element that the institute is looking at," he said.
Cost is, of course, a factor to bring the Flapper Drones and robotic dogs to commercial use on Australian farms. This is more important because multiple devices will be required.
“One flapper drone isn’t going to cut it,” Mr Hof said.
“The research we’re doing, we need them to be affordable, they will need a team of them."