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An expanded Web version of segments seen on CNN Out in the fields with the 'weed terminator'
August 22, 1997
Web posted at: 10:12 a.m. EDT (1412 GMT)From Reporter Dan Ronan
(CNN) -- On the traditional farm, there are two ways to get rid of weeds: Douse them with herbicides or uproot them by hand. But when you're talking about thousands of acres of crops, either option can be costly.
And herbicides can harm the environment.
Another option, a cold, calculating assassin -- a "weed terminator" -- may soon be turned loose in American farm fields.
The device being developed at the University of California at Davis uses a camera, a personal computer and a precise herbicide-spraying system to locate, then destroy weeds without harming surrounding crops.
"The robot works by taking a video picture. The video then goes into a computer, and it statistically determines whether that plant is more likely to be a weed or likely to be a crop plant," explained David Slaughter, an associate professor in the university's Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department.
(544K/25 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)
David Slaughter, University of California
1M/27 sec. QuickTime movie
In one test, the vision system distinguishes between a tomato seedling and a similar plant, a nightshade, beside it. The robot correctly targets the nightshade for a dose of herbicide from a bank of computer-controlled nozzles.
"We're essentially trying to develop a technology for the year 2000," Slaughter said. "We're trying to be more environmentally conscious. Applying our resources, in this case, chemicals, only where we need to. We don't want to spray weed killer on the soil. We just want to spray it on the weed."
The university takes high-tech to a higher level by mounting the experimental weed killer on a so-called "robotic cultivator." The prototype device works at a speed of one-half mile per hour.
Slaughter and his colleagues hope to quadruple that speed by improving the system's recognition software. The estimated cost of each machine is $10,000. That may sound expensive, but compared to the costs of hand weeding or large-scale use of herbicides, scientists say, it's a bargain.
And farmers aren't the only ones who can benefit.
"This will help everyone. It will help consumers, because any time we can lower production costs, it will keep our costs of food at the grocery store low," the professor said.
So the seed has been planted for a new era of high-tech farming.
"All farms will eventually have computers, and they will become more and more computerized. Whether they have a classic R2-D2-type robot where things walk around or drive themselves, that remains to be seen," Slaughter said. "But we will see robotic technology creeping into agriculture."
And that should keep weeds from creeping into fields.
Related sites:
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- University of California at Davis
- Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering
- Assoc. Prof. David Slaughter
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