Rippa Robot is a smart agricultural robot that could make life easier for farmers. The RIPPA robot (Robot for Intelligent Perception and Precision Application) comes with a smart applicator to shoot weeds at a high speed. As the makers explain, this robot can be used to apply the correct dose on the farm at high speed. Professor Sukkarieh said the robot has a collection of sensors and sophisticated algorithms that can detect weeds from amongst the crop as well as foreign objects such as a stone, glass or metal. The next step is to build systems that can remove the weed and the foreign object, while the ultimate goal is to limit the risks caused by pests and foreign bodies found in farm produce, and to increase productivity.

Decision making tools that can be developed using the data that RIPPA collects could be used to increase the marketable yield of crops. Marketable yield is determined by the quality and quantity of a harvest. Crop data could be used to increase the uniformity of crops and crop volume at the time of harvest by providing the following information to growers:

• Identifying crops with poor health due to factors such as water stress, lack of nutrients or the presence of pests.
• Provide estimates of crop quality metrics such as size.
• Predict yield and optimum harvest time.

Product: Rippa Robot

• Country: Australia
• Company: Sydney University