Farm robot developer wins award

A robotics expert from the University of Sydney, Professor Salah Sukkarieh, has been announced Researcher of the Year at the 2014 AUSVEG National Awards for Excellence. Professor Sukkarieh was recognised for his work on intelligent farm robots, in particular the ‘Ladybird’.

Ladybird was designed and built specifically for the vegetable industry with the aim of creating a ground robot with supporting intelligent software and the capability to conduct autonomous farm surveillance, mapping, classification and detection for a variety of different vegetables. Professor Sukkarieh said the solar-electric powered robot is focused on broad acre agriculture.

“It has an array of sensors for detecting vegetable growth and pest species, either plant or animal … [and] also has a robotic arm for the purposes of removing weeds,” he said. Future testing of Ladybird will examine the arm’s potential for spot sensing or spot sampling and look towards automated harvesting.

Ladybird recently took part in her first field trip, conducted on the onion, beetroot and spinach farms of Cowra. She was charged up beforehand and was fully operational for three consecutive days on the farm.

“The robot was able to drive fully autonomously up and down rows and from one row to the next, while gathering sensor data,” Professor Sukkarieh said. “Sensors include lasers, cameras and hyper spectral cameras.

“Part of our research program is to find new ways to provide valuable information to growers about the state of their paddocks.”

Professor Sukkarieh believes the automation of on-farm processes is poised to play a decisive role in minimising input and maximising output of future agriculture. This week he spoke on the topic of farm automation at the PMA Fresh Connections conference, held in Auckland.

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