National Trust Wimpole Estate, Cambridgeshire, 5 December 2019
RootWave and Small Robot Company (SRC), a British agritech start-up for sustainable farming, today announced the world’s first non-chemical precision robotic weeding for cereal crops. Using electricity and artificial intelligence, the ‘Dick’ robot will zap individual weeds using commercially-proven RootWave weed zapping technology. Early field trials are due to commence in 2020.
This
is a major technological milestone which will enable automated, precision,
per-plant weeding both at scale and autonomously, for the first time providing
a post-chemical future for arable farmers.
This
world-leading innovation is funded by the government’s Innovate UK grant
programme, with more than £1 million funding committed to date. Working
together in partnership with British start up RootWave, Small Robot Company has
successfully completed development of its ‘Dick’ non-chemical weeding robot
prototype to in-lab proof of concept stage, Technology Readiness Level (TRL)
4.0. An initial prototype will go into field trials in 2020, with the
commercial weed zapping service anticipated to be available from autumn 2021.
With
up to 95% of chemicals wasted in the current farming system, this new
non-chemical weeding technology will be significantly more nature-friendly and
better for biodiversity.
“This is truly a world-first. For the first time, we can see each plant in the field – and every single weed. Instead of spraying the whole field, we can simply zap the individual weeds,” says Sam Watson-Jones, co-founder, Small Robot Company. “Farmers are integral to the environmental solution. It’s crucial that we’re working on farm to develop our technology, to ensure it delivers real benefits in field. Together, we’re creating the ultimate sustainable farming model.“
Andrew Diprose, CEO, RootWave comments, “Our technology uses electricity to zap weeds with zero chemicals. Increased regulation, herbicide resistance, and consumer concerns are all intensifying the urgency to find an environmental solution. Partnering with Small Robot Company means we can automate our weed zapping to operate at farm-scale.”
Calum Murray, Innovate UK’s Head of Agriculture & Food, said “It’s fantastic to see how Innovate UK’s funding has brought together British start up RootWave and Small Robot Company to develop game changing technologies that will revolutionize the agriculture sector. This innovative technology will allow farmers for the first time ever to use non-chemical precision robotic weeding for cereal, whilst saving energy and reducing costs. At Innovate UK, we are proud to be supporting thetransformation of the UK’s food production systems, improving productivity and sustainability, and helping the industry move towards achieving net zero emissions by 2040.”
Groundbreaking customer trials:
Waitrose and the National Trust
Initial
customers include the National Trust Wimpole Estate and Waitrose Leckford
Estate farms, who are both already trialling SRC’s first commercial weed
mapping service, which uses SRC’s ‘Tom’ monitoring robot to first locate the
weeds. Both farms have been key partners in SRC’s work to develop its
sustainable farming technology. Trials will take place on 20 UK farms through 2020.
Callum Weir, farm manager of the 1,500 acre (600 hectare)
organic farm on the Wimpole Estate, says: “The key advantage of this groundbreaking technology is that it will enable us to be much
more precise and targeted in controlling weeds, therefore helping us to
increase crop yields and biodiversity.
It is also lightweight, helping reduce compaction of soils – a
consequence of using traditional tractors – which will help improve soil
health.”
Andrew Hoad, Partner & Head of Waitrose’s Leckford Estate, comments: “This technology could be truly groundbreaking and has the potential to shape how we farm in the future. By helping us be more precise and targeted in controlling weeds and managing pests, this next generation of farming robots could in turn help us protect biodiversity on our land and preserve the natural environment for future generations.”
RootWave non-chemical weeding
With pressure increasing from
regulators and herbicide resistant weeds, RootWave has developed a scalable and
sustainable alternative to herbicides. This provides the core technology for
SRC’s new weed-zapping robots. The
technology is sustainable, no-till and cost comparable with herbicides.
Automating this technology at scale will bring significant cost savings for
farmers.
Rootwave uses electricity to kill
weeds. Electricity is applied to a weed where the natural resistance of the
weed transforms the electrical energy into heat which boils it inside out from
the root upwards. This kills the weed
after which the plant naturally decomposes, returning its nutrients to the
soil. RootWave treats deep into the roots, making it possible to treat any
weed, including tough invasive species such as Giant Hogweed and Japanese
Knotweed.
RootWave’s technology is already
commercially available as a professional hand-weeder designed for growers,
gardeners and groundskeepers to spot weed and treat invasive species. This is
in use in municipal, commercial and heritage sites, such as parks, football
grounds and gardens, with customers including English Heritage, the Environment
Agency, and the National Trust.
RootWave has won a £1million UK
Government Innovate UK grant to scale its technology across different crop
types and weeding platforms, including the Small Robot Company’s autonomous robots.
The other major partner is SFM Technologies who are using RootWave technology
to develop a tractor-pulled clearance weeder for fruit crops . These
integrations will help enable electrical weed control technology to be adopted
as a scalable and sustainable alternative to herbicides.
