Reducing pesticide use with AI-driven weed detection

Robovision and Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO) developed a weed detection system that powers drones with computer vision AI to allow hyper localized spraying.

Intelligent weed detection and precision farming

Robovision provides agro-robotics with the intelligence needed for in-field weed detection and precision farming. The goal: to see and read any field, any time, no matter the conditions. Next, our tool tells farmers exactly how to optimally treat their crops. We go beyond mere analysis but include automated action by AI-powered robotics.

Drone reads the field and detects weeds

Combining several of our AI model’s strengths, Robovision and its partners built an end-to-end automated precise spraying system that works with drones to deliver vision intelligence. The drone flies autonomously to read the field and identify weeds. It sends the data, which is analyzed instantaneously by our AI model. A detailed task map is then generated and sent to the spraying machine, without any supervision needed. Based on the map, the machine can accurately spray the field without losing or damaging crops.

Sustainable by design

Safe to say this precision agriculture technology is sustainable by design, for creating AI-powered machines radically reduces the use of crop protection chemicals. In other words: Good news for both the farmer and the planet. 

Detecting weeds in all weather conditions

Detecting and identifying a broad array of weeds in all possible weather conditions and varying light is challenging, to say the least. More so when you attempt to keep the time between scanning, reading, interpreting, and sending the tasks to the machines as short as possible. A carefully chosen training dataset of various fields with various types of weeds and soil, and tailored data augmentation allow the model to work with a high level of variability. All day, rain or shine, the identification is close to perfect.

Sustainability challenges in agriculture

A growing global population asks for a growing and increasingly efficient food supply. Sadly the side-effect is excessive use of crop protection chemicals, which is not in line with the necessary shift towards sustainable agriculture. With the deployment of Europe’s New Green Deal, efforts will be accelerated to decrease any unnecessary impact agriculture has on the environment. Computer vision AI can clearly play an important role in achieving this goal.