Synecoculture is a brand new agricultural methodology advocated by Dr. Masatoshi Funabashi, senior researcher at Sony Laptop Science Laboratories, Inc. (Sony CSL), through which numerous sorts of crops are combined and grown in excessive density, establishing wealthy biodiversity whereas benefiting from the self-organizing skill of the ecosystem. Nonetheless, such dense vegetation requires frequent repairs — seeds must be sown, weeds must be pruned, and crops must be harvested. Synecoculture thus requires a excessive degree of ecological literacy and complicated decision-making. And whereas the operational points current with Synecoculture may be addressed through the use of an agricultural robotic, most present robots can solely automate one of many above three duties in a easy farmland surroundings, thus falling in need of the literacy and decision-making abilities required of them to carry out Synecoculture. Furthermore, the robots might make pointless contact with the crops and injury them, affecting their progress and the harvest.
With the rising consciousness of environmental points, such a niche between the efficiency of people versus that of standard robots has spurred innovation to enhance the latter. A bunch of researchers led by Takuya Otani, an Assistant Professor at Waseda College, in collaboration with Sustainergy Firm 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 a wide range of combined crops grown within the shade of photo voltaic panels, an in any other case unutilized area. An article describing their analysis was printed in Quantity 13, Problem 1 of Agriculture, on 21 December 2022. This text has been co-authored by Professor Atsuo Takanishi, additionally from Waseda College, different researchers of Sony CSL, and college students from Waseda College.
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. As well as, it’s loaded with numerous 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.”
Moreover these inherent options, the researchers additionally invented methods for environment friendly seeding. They coated seeds from completely different crops with soil to make equally-sized balls. These made their form and dimension constant, in order that the robotic may simply sow seeds from a number of crops. Moreover, 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 swap duties.
The brand new robotic may efficiently sow, prune, and harvest in dense vegetation, making minimal contact with the surroundings in the course of the duties due to its small and versatile physique. As well as, the brand new maneuvering system enabled the robotic to keep away from obstacles 50% higher whereas lowering 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 basically agriculture in addition to Synecoculture — solely the instruments must be modified when working with completely different crops. This robotic will contribute to bettering the yield per unit space and enhance farming effectivity. Furthermore, its agricultural operation knowledge will assist automate the maneuvering system. In consequence, robots may help agriculture in a plethora of environments. Actually, Sustainergy Firm is at the moment making 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 numerous urgent issues, together with local weather change and the vitality disaster. The current analysis is a vital step towards attaining sustainable agriculture and carbon neutrality. Here is hoping for a sensible and skillful robotic that effectively helps large-scale Synecoculture!