Synecoculture is a brand new agricultural technique advocated by Dr. Masatoshi Funabashi, senior researcher at Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc. (Sony CSL), through which varied sorts of crops are combined and grown in excessive density, establishing wealthy biodiversity whereas benefiting from the self-organizing capability of the ecosystem. However, such dense vegetation requires frequent maintenance — seeds have to be sown, weeds have to be pruned, and crops have to be harvested. Synecoculture thus requires a excessive stage of ecological literacy and sophisticated decision-making. And whereas the operational points current with Synecoculture may be addressed through the use of an agricultural robotic, most current robots can solely automate one of many above three duties in a easy farmland atmosphere, thus falling in need of the literacy and decision-making abilities required of them to carry out Synecoculture. Moreover, the robots might make pointless contact with the crops and harm them, affecting their development and the harvest.
With the rising consciousness of environmental points, such a spot between the efficiency of people versus that of standard robots has spurred innovation to enhance the latter. A gaggle of researchers led by Takuya Otani, an Assistant Professor at Waseda University, in collaboration with Sustainergy Company and Sony CSL, have designed a brand new robotic that may carry out Synecoculture successfully. The robotic is named SynRobo, with “syn” conveying the which means of “along with” people. It manages quite a lot of combined crops grown within the shade of photo voltaic panels, an in any other case unutilized house. An article describing their analysis was revealed in Volume 13, Issue 1 of Agriculture, on 21 December 2022. This article has been co-authored by Professor Atsuo Takanishi, additionally from Waseda University, different researchers of Sony CSL, and college students from Waseda University.
Otani briefly explains the novel robotic’s design. “It has a four-wheel mechanism that permits motion on uneven land and a robotic arm that expands and contracts to assist overcome obstacles. The robotic can transfer on slopes and keep away from small steps. The system additionally makes use of a 360o digital camera to acknowledge and maneuver its environment. In addition, it’s loaded with varied farming instruments — anchors (for punching holes), pruning scissors, and harvesting setups. The robotic adjusts its place utilizing the robotic arm and an orthogonal axes desk that may transfer horizontally.”
Besides these inherent options, the researchers additionally invented strategies for environment friendly seeding. They coated seeds from completely different crops with soil to make equally-sized balls. These made their form and measurement constant, in order that the robotic may simply sow seeds from a number of crops. Furthermore, an easy-to-use, human-controlled maneuvering system was developed to facilitate the robotic’s performance. The system helps it function instruments, implement computerized sowing, and change duties.
The new robotic may efficiently sow, prune, and harvest in dense vegetation, making minimal contact with the atmosphere in the course of the duties due to its small and versatile physique. In addition, the brand new maneuvering system enabled the robotic to keep away from obstacles 50% higher whereas decreasing its working time by 49%, in comparison with a easy controller.
“This analysis has developed an agricultural robotic that works in environments the place a number of species of crops develop in dense mixtures,” Otani tells us. “It may be broadly used generally agriculture in addition to Synecoculture — solely the instruments have to be modified when working with completely different crops. This robotic will contribute to bettering the yield per unit space and enhance farming effectivity. Moreover, its agricultural operation information will assist automate the maneuvering system. As a end result, robots may help agriculture in a plethora of environments. In reality, Sustainergy Company is at the moment getting ready to commercialize this innovation in deserted fields in Japan and desertified areas in Kenya, amongst different locations.”
Such developments will promote Synecoculture farming, with the mix of renewable vitality, and assist resolve varied urgent issues, together with local weather change and the vitality disaster. The current analysis is a vital step towards reaching sustainable agriculture and carbon neutrality. Here’s hoping for a wise and skillful robotic that effectively helps large-scale Synecoculture!