Rapagra Potatoe field robot
Rapagra created an open-field potato robot monitoring plant health, vigor and is a pre-warning system for dieases.
Potatoes are exceptionally vulnerable to viral diseases transmitted by aphid species, as well as fungal threats like Phytophthora infestans (Late Blight).
Rapagra created a robot that goes UNDER the leafs and analyses the LOWEST leafs, unlike drones and satellites. Our app determines where the robot goes first, see image.
1. The compact Cam-Bot navigates beneath dense plant canopies, pointing high-resolution sensors upwards to analyze the undersides of leaves where pests and early fungal spores hide.
2. Nighttime Fluorescence Imaging: To eliminate variable ambient sunlight interference, the Cam-Bot patrols at night. Utilizing specialized UV and fluorescence excitation lights, it detects early cellular tissue breakdown and stress responses before they are visible to the human eye.
3. The vision engine counts individual aphids (lice) beneath leaves, allowing farmers to apply targeted treatments only when vector populations breach economic risk thresholds, preventing devastating viral outbreaks across potato seed stocks.
This will help the farmer to apply precision farming and surgical farming to individual plants.
It will save approximately 100 hours of labor per hectare and 70% of spraying volumes and costs. The ROI of the Cam-Bot is less than 1 year.