Maybe it is because I grew up in what I would call a “large farm town” in northern Illinois (corn country) that I found this of interest. In the past a farmer would be in their fields and if they had a weed problem they would spray the entire field to kill the weeds. In the near future that might not be needed. A robot will survey the field, determine that a weed problem is emerging in one section of the field and then have another robot go out and spot spray individual weeds. For all the benefits outlined below.
I recall another item I read about how drones are being used to determine which areas of a field need to be irrigated. Rather than watering the entire field, water can be saved and the crops thrive without wasting water on areas that don’t need it. This type of technology will be needed in the Southwest if farming will survive in that drought stricken region.
Watch for more direct application of robotics and technology to be coming to the emergency management profession.
Solinftec continues to revolutionize sustainable farm practices
West Lafayette, Indiana and Bloomington, Illinois – August 30, 2022 – Solinftec, a global leader in agricultural digitalization, has today announced that it is expanding its Solix Ag Robotics offerings. In addition to its Solix Scouting robot, the company has unveiled its Solix Sprayer robot designed to detect and spray weeds. In partnership with the award-winning manufacturing, research, and development company, McKinney Corporation, who will produce and manufacture the Solix spray robot, this new cutting-edge technology is slated to become commercially available in 2023 to the entire agricultural market including farmers, cooperatives, and ag-retailers.
“Solinftec’s partnership with McKinney Corporation will positively impact our ability to market and deliver Solix Ag Robotics by consolidating Solix's scalability and accelerating service to the -North American markets,” shared Leonardo Carvalho, Solinftec’s director of operations. “It also supports Solinftec's goal of making this technology available globally.”
A leading innovator and pioneer in the AgTech space, and champion for sustainable farm practices, Solinftec has designed its scouting and sprayer robots to help producers reduce their chemical inputs and deliver a lower carbon footprint and environmental impact.
The new Solix Sprayer robot will provide autonomous and sustainable spot-spray applications on grower’s fields. Similar to the Solix Scouting robot, the spray robot is powered by four solar panels that control the drive system and the spray system while providing reports on crop populations, weed identification and densities, disease identification and thresholds, insect identification and thresholds, nutrient deficiency identification and densities, NDVI among other layers of maps for data analysis, and much more useful data to the grower virtually 24/7.
The Solix spray robot will provide weed spot-spray maps with analysis on inputs saved and can services up to 96 acres per day depending on the field shape and terrain.
With a goal to change agriculture in order to transform the world, the need and priority to feed the world on a larger scale with a smaller impact has made Solinftec seek out new ways to reimagine agriculture. A Brazil-founded company with its U.S. offices in Indiana, Solinftec is revolutionizing how farmers run their business with end-to-end mission critical solutions, generating up to 70% efficiency improvements by turning data into action. With more than 15 years of experience developing digital ag solutions throughout various geographies and crops around the world, the Solix Ag Robotics, connected and integrated with Solinftec’s innovative ALICE AI platform, works together to orchestrate machine operations and calculates producers’ ultimate needs and objectives and delivers real-time actionable recommendations and actions in a more eco-friendly way.
“Solinftec focuses on really solving structural problems in agricultural management and offers solutions that truly promote low-impact agriculture and not only measure or certify the footprint but offers a real solution to reduce your impact,” shared Carvalho. “Weed detection is a leading issue in fields across the North America and the Solix Sprayer is designed to not only monitor and scan fields like the original scouting version, but detect and manage weeds with technology which allows the device to spot-spray into the plant instead of from above, eliminating drift and soil compaction caused by larger machines and help lower environmental impact.”
Pilots for the Solix models are currently running in North America in partnership with the ag cooperative GROWMARK, Purdue University in the U.S., and Stone Farms and University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
In Brazil, the Solix Scouting robot has been manufactured and produced by cutting-edge electronics manufacturing service company, Hi-Mix Eletrônicos and has been commercially available since last April.
"Since the beginning, we have identified a strong culture in Solinftec to the agriculture market, investing heavily in R&D, plus a determination for quality, flexibility and agility for the best time to market,” shared Daniel Carvalho, co-founder Hi-Mix Eletrônicos S/A. "Hi-Mix is proud to work with Solinftec, a company always looking for state-of-the-art in its products and solutions."
