Autopilot robots, key to the future of food

Fieldin.

Acquisitions are revolutionizing the landscape of smart farming. The latest example is Fieldin, the world’s largest smart farm operations management company for high-value crops, which acquired the autonomous farming company Midnight Robotics.

This acquisition signals a rapid maturation of smart farming, which uses IoT sensors and artificial intelligence to manage farming operations with unprecedented precision and helps reshape food manufacturing in markets. The acquisition creates a sensor-based operational farming platform with autonomous driving technologies to enable farmers to manage their farms on a day-to-day basis. The concept, for example, has already been implemented in large Californian farms.

“A lot of people think autonomous tractors are a magic bullet, but at the end of the day, they’re just machines – your autonomous farm can’t be as good as your farm management data, and that’s why this acquisition advances autonomous farming revolution, ”says Boaz Bachar, Fieldin’s CEO and co-founder. “Over the past eight years, we have digitized hundreds of farms and more than 10,000 tractors and farm equipment, more than anyone else in the world of high-value crops, and we have accumulated a treasure trove of invaluable data that can provide insights on best practices. in agricultural management. By acquiring Midnight Robotics, we are helping farmers close the loop between understanding and autonomous action, so they know exactly what to do and do it independently, all through the same platform. “

Have agricultural data

Agriculture has rapidly embraced IoT and automation technology in response to growing pressures including labor shortages, climate change, and drought. Precision agriculture is adopted in various use cases to improve food production.

Fieldin’s platform collects agricultural data through distributed sensor networks and offers decision support on topics such as pesticide use and water management. With the addition of autonomous tractors, decisions can now be made autonomously. Fieldin equips tractors and other farm machinery with LiDAR-based range kits, which send data to its platform in real time.

“It is not enough to have excellent agricultural data or excellent autonomous technology; it is necessary to have both for self-sustainable agriculture to be a reality. What is so powerful about this merger is the powerful combination of Fieldin’s unmatched agricultural data collection, including more than 49 million hours of tractor driving, with our expertise in driverless technology, ”said Yonatan Horovitz, Co-Founder of Midnight Robotics. “We are delighted to join forces with Fieldin, because only together can we help farmers reap the benefits of smart, self-sufficient agriculture, not a decade from now, but today. “

The company’s upgrade kit is capable of turning any tractor into a robot using advanced LiDAR perception algorithms.

Source: .com