Rippa robot takes farms forward to the future
The robotic labour foreseen by the film Back to the Future is becoming a reality with devices such as RIPPA.
The University of Sydney is marking 'back to the future' day by putting its latest agricultural farming device RIPPA鈩� through its paces on a beetroot field in Cowra.
Robotics specialists from the Australian Centre for Field Robotics are conducting the on-farm trial of听 鈥楻IPPA鈩�(Robot for Intelligent Perception and Precision Application) testing their new prototype robot for its speed and accuracy.
鈥淢ounted to RIPPA鈩� is 21st century technology dubbed VIIPA鈩� (Variable Injection Intelligent Precision Applicator), which is capable of autonomously shooting weeds at high speed using a directed micro-dose of liquid.听
鈥淭he technology can be used to automatically apply the correct dose of fluid required anywhere on the farm at high speed," says systems engineering and operations specialist Mark Calleija, who constructed the robotic farming device.
鈥淚t will enable farmers to capitalise by minimising application input costs and improving information quality for better high-level decision making.
鈥淭his type of new technology will assist growers in taking their farms into the future.鈥�
鈥淭hese types of smaller more affordable robotic farming devices will give farmers a tool to help better manage their farms.鈥�
The Back to the Future movie produced in 1989 saw its characters projected into the future, arriving in time on 21 October 2015, and suggested that much of our future work would be done by robots.
鈥淗ere at the we have been conducting research in autonomous, remote sensing and developing robotics and intelligent software for the environment and agriculture community for more than a decade,鈥� says Director of Research and Innovation at the centre.
鈥淭hese types of smaller more affordable robotic farming devices will give farmers a tool to help better manage their farms.鈥�
This project was jointly funded by AUSVEG and Horticultural Innovation Australian.
The said predicted future growth in Australia鈥檚 agricultural sector 鈥渋s likely to depend on the more productive use of land, water and other natural endowments through the application of the most up-to-date equipment and technologies against the background of changing productive potential.鈥�
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