John Deere has a Lettuce Bot

John Deere buys start-up for $305 million

Blue River Technologies LettuceBot makes farming more productive 

By next planting season, many more California farmers will be towing robots behind their John Deere tractors. Blue River Technologies wanted to find a solution to pick weeds out of lettuce fields.

So, they created the LettuceBot, a machine with computer camera vision technology and machine learning that distinguishes between weed and plant.
   
Scanning for unwanted weeds, the system attacks the intruders directly with small sprays of herbicides. Very small weeds that hamper lettuce growth in young fields can be wiped out efficiently. Managing weeds before consisted of spraying fields wholesale and hoping for the best. Human pickers would take care of the rest.

Now, with this new technology, already in use in many California farms, destruction occurs one weed at a time with herbicide use being reduced by 90%. This targeted approach to farming with the teaming up with high tech, will make farming more productive and less costly, plus reduce waste.


Bolstered by their John Deere green injection, Blue River is going after cotton fields, corn, and soybean next. Source