Carnegie Mellon University roboticists received $10 million in federal agriculture grants to help grow apples and oranges, the university announced today.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave the grants to two groups of Carnegie Mellon researchers who are building automated farming systems. One is for apple growers and one is for orange growers, but both are designed to improve fruit quality and lower production costs.
Robotic vehicles fixed with sensors would be released into orchards where they can gather data about tree health and crop ripeness.
"With this information, growers can make timely decisions that will save them money and improve the quality of their crop," Sanjiv Singh, research professor of robotics, said in a news release.
Based on the data, the robots could administer precise amounts of water, fertilizer or pesticide, as well as mow grass between rows of trees.
A group led by Singh received a four-year, $6 million grant to develop systems for the apple industry. A group led by Tony Stenz and Herman Herman, of the Robotics Institute's National Robotics Engineering Center, received a three-year, $4 million grant to develop systems for the citrus industry. Both grants are matched dollar for dollar by industry, state governments and other funding sources.
"We are taking automation to a level never before demonstrated in an agricultural setting," Herman said in a news release. "This will provide an early look at how the automated farm may someday operate."
Larger text
Smaller text
Print this article
E-mail this article
