SwarmFarm Robotics launches robotic sprayer

Precision farming, with fewer chemicals and better yields is a goal being chased by SwarmFarm Robotics, reports @AuManufacturing, the news and analysis website of the Australian Manufacturing Forum.

Teams of small robot vehicles

The company pitches a future involving teams of small robot vehicles, working slowly but effectively, taking care of tasks like weed spraying. Vehicles a tenth the size of a normal sprayer mean less soil compaction, and precise application means much less pesticide.

Now in their fifth generation, the robots are finally ready for manufacture. For now, there are 25 robots on the order books. The company plans to make and sell 100 in 2019.

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SwarmFarm provides a platform to which others can contribute their own apps and on which they can invent their own uses. The machines are designed to have their parts easily changed out for different situations.

“As we grow, as farmers or industries identify a particular need that they can use the robot for, we will encourage software developers to develop the apps and they can then run them on our robots: a bit like the iPhone environment,” SwarmFarm Robotics COO David Blower told @AuManufacturing. “We’re not going to develop every app and we’ll collaborate or allow others access into our platform to develop software to run different attachments. It’s only limited by people’s imaginations as to what the robot can be used for.”