Weeding robot - weed removal without the use of chemicals

As a small start up company, the Small Robot company had big goals and dreams. Their dream was to invent a AI weeding robot. The dream was to use AI to identify bad weeds and zap them with electricity to kill them, paving the wave to herbicide- free farming. They needed a robust system, that would withstand not only dirt and soil, it needed to be weatherproof, precise, cost-effective and ideally lubrication free to fulfil the environmental elements.

We were lucky enough to visit them onsite with our manufacturing press which you can see in the video and got a full demonstration on how the this small company was pushing the boundaries with innovation and technology.

Challenge	Solution	Result
Chemical spraying and how to eliminate it	AI driven robots with delta robot components	Weed removal, no chemicals
Physical labour for weeding	Automated robotic system	Reduction in physical labour
Weather, dirt, water exposure	robust lubrication free solution	Operational in outside environments

Interview with the Small Robot Company and igus

What was needed by the customer: Targeted and localised weed control without the use of chemicals
Requirements from igus: Precision, durability, weather resistance
Soultions: drylin® delta robot, drylin® motors incl. motor control unit
Industry: Agricultural engineering
Success for the customer: Significant cost reduction, reduced manaul labour for employees, environmentally friendly weed control without chemicals that could continue to operate in any weather.

This video shows the robot in the field, killing weeds with small bolts of electricity. Driven by AI, the robots were a lot less labour intensive than with humans.

Process sequence of the weeding robot

Robot scans the field

AI detects the bad weeds from the good

The Robot is given co-ordinates for the bad weeds

Robot is positioned

Weeds are zapped

The electric shock destroys the weed

Overview of the application, problem and solution

About the application:

The world's first non-chemical weed control robot for cereal crops, manufactured by agricultural engineering start-up Small Robot Company, has successfully identified and controlled weeds in a field trial in Hampshire. The wheeled robot uses Delta-robot arm to position a "zapper" and deploy "lightning strikes" to kill weeds.
The drylin® delta robot was chosen for its precision, cost-effective and lubrication-free technology.
The weeding robot, called "Dick", works together with a monitoring robot, "Tom", to identify weed patches and kill individual plants with a zapper device.

The problem

Currently, chemicals are often used to kill weeds, for example by spraying herbicides over large areas. This is a costly waste with harmful effects on the environment. In addition, the soil is damaged by herbicides and soil compaction, which reduces crop yields.
Automated weed control systems designed to kill weeds at the level of a single plant must not only be particularly precise. The components used must also be weatherproof to ensure that they can cope with wet mud and water splashes.

The solution:

The delta robot follows another monitoring robot, which uses artificial intelligence to scan the field for weed patches and thus define a path. The delta robot then manoeuvres the zapper into position with the help of an integrated motor and encoder, which is connected to the weed robot's master control system. The three drylin® delta robots attached to each robotic weeding system can destroy weeds simultaneously. This process with two robots working together with AI can also be used for spot spraying, spot fertilising or slug control, for example.