Robots that can weed fields will eliminate the use of pesticides. Postdoc Henrik Skov Midtiby wins the 2013 PhD Cup for his automatic hoe design.
A robotic hoe that can weed out rye grass and dandelions on cornfields may soon become a reality. Using a camera and a computer, the robotic weeder rolls across the field and hacks up the weeds without using pesticides.
- At the University of Southern Denmark we try to teach the computer to distinguish between the shapes and locations of the plants. When the computer is able to do this, we can control weeds effectively and without using any pesticides whatsoever, says postdoc Henrik Skov Midtiby from the Department of Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Environmental Technology at the University of Southern Denmark. He is one of the eight winners of Information newspaper’s PhD Cup in 2013.
It leaves the lettuce alone
Henrik Skov Midtiby has written a PhD thesis about an automated hoe that can weed fields while leaving the crops alone. Robotic weeding machines are currently used in lettuce fields, but the technology does not yet work for other types of crops.
- The machines work in lettuce fields because lettuce is not moved out to the fields from the greenhouse until the plants are big. The computer in the weeding machine can then be adjusted to hack up all the weeds that are smaller than the lettuce heads, and it works, explains Midtiby.
His biggest challenge is to develop the computer in such a way that it learns to tell the shapes of the plants apart when, for example, a turnip grows out of the ground at the same rate as the weeds.
The robot must learn to tell the difference
- You can teach a child in preschool to tell a beet plant from a weed. People are incredibly good at that. But it’s very complicated to get a robot to do it. Basically, a robot can only do two things. It can add two numbers together, and it can find out whether one number is greater than another, says Midtiby.
Along with a couple of colleagues, he is therefore still exploring how to get the computer to distinguish between a beet or maize plant and a dandelion or ryegrass.
Facts about Information’s PhD Cup
Every year 2,000 PhD students submit their theses, marking the end of three years of research. To help disseminate all this new knowledge in society and inspire others, Information newspaper has established the PhD Cup.
A jury has assessed 35 nominations for the 2013 PhD Cup 2013 and selected eight winners. The winners were picked based on summaries of their approved theses.
17.05.2013
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