Bosch agricultural robot to make farming cleaner and more efficient
- Bonirob can analyse crops to save time in plant breeding
- Automated weeding negates the need for harmful poisins
- Project is the creation of Bosch start-up, Deepfield Robots
Bosch start-up, Deepfield Robotics, has developed a new machine that can analyse and weed crops. The technology, named Bonirob, will make plant breeding more efficient and reduce the environmental impact of crop farming.
Bonirob, which is the size of a compact car, can monitor how well new crop varieties grow, whether they are resistant to pests and how much fertiliser and water they need. Currently, this is a painstaking manual process done by plant scientists in a laboratory.
The agricultural robot also makes every-day work in the fields easier. Bonirob can distinguish between crops and weeds based on the shape of their leaves and can eliminate weeds mechanically, rather than with weed killer. Unwanted plants are simply rammed into the ground with a rod. Using machine learning, Bosch researchers highlight weeds in a large number of image files so that Bonirob can accurately identify them.
Professor Amos Albert, general manager of Deepfield Robotics, explains: “Over time, based on parameters such as leaf colour, shape, and size, Bonirob learns how to differentiate more and more accurately between the plants we want and the plants we don’t want.”
In the coming years, more efficient plant breeding will play an important role in increasing agricultural output. It is estimated that yields will have to increase by three percent each year to keep up with population growth.
Bonirob is the product of a public joint project funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture that saw experts from Bosch, Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, and the agricultural machinery manufacturer Amazone join forces.
At the 2015 European Robotics Forum in Vienna this spring, Bonirob won a 2015 euRobotics Technology Transfer Award. In September, the German Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture Christian Schmidt presented the agricultural robot with the Deutscher Innovationspreis Gartenbau, a national award for innovation in horticulture. Bosch has since assumed full responsibility for the tool.
Internet
Another agricultural project at Bosch:
http://www.bosch-presse.de/presseforum/details.htm?txtID=7273
Details about the EU’s Flourish project:
http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?doc_id=9258
Press photo: 1-CR-21626, 1-CR-21627, 1-CR-21628, 1-CR-21629, 1-CR-21630, 1-CR-21631, 1-CR-21632, 1-CR-21633, 1-CR-21634, 1-CR-21635-e, 1-CR-21635-e_n
Contact person for press inquiries:
Rianne Ojeh, 01895 838 822
Email: Rianne.Ojeh@uk.bosch.com
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 360,000 associates worldwide (as per April 1, 2015). The company generated sales of 49 billion euros in 2014.* Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology.
The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 440 subsidiary and regional companies in some 60 countries. Including its sales and service partners, Bosch is represented in roughly 150 countries. This worldwide development, manufacturing, and sales network is the foundation for further growth. In 2014, Bosch applied for some 4,600 pa-tents worldwide. The Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to create solutions for a connected life. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.”
Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com, http://twitter.com/BoschPresse
*The sales figure disclosed for 2014 does not include the former joint ventures BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH (now BSH Hausgeräte GmbH) and ZF Lenksysteme GmbH (now Robert Bosch Automotive Steering GmbH), which have since been taken over completely.
