AN expert in agricultural robotics at the University of Sydney's Australian Centre for Field Robotics will attend the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation's conference and deliver the latest research on how agricultural robotics could support nutrition security.
Professor Salah Sukkarieh will speak in Rome and co-chair the conference's Mechanization and Digitalization session and present his work to FAO's Sustainable Agriculture Mechanization group.
The session will bring together global experts who implement various levels of automation and digital technology for small-holder farmers.
Professor Sukkarieh will discuss how agricultural robotics and AI can support nutrition security, explaining how his robot - the Digital Farmhand, a small, autonomous, electric tractor-like vehicle can assist smallholder farmers to improve their productivity and yields.
He is a robotics engineer, developing autonomous agricultural robots to improve food security in the Asia-Pacific. He believes improvements in agriculture using these technologies can help to increase productivity and yields.
"It's projected that APAC will need to increase food production by up to 77 per cent to feed its communities by 2050. Bold steps must be taken to accelerate progress towards addressing the major drivers of food insecurity, malnutrition, and equal access to food - as well as drive smart solutions that give back power to local farmers," Prof Sukkarieh said.
"Our Digital Farmhand robot is designed to assist smallholder farmers to improve their productivity and yields and, ultimately, provide a more reliable income amidst changing markets and climates.
"In its simplest form the Digital Farmhand is a small, autonomous electric tractor-like vehicle that can tow a variety of implements such as seeders, weeders and bed preparation tools, and can undertake precision automation of many labour-intensive farm tasks, like weeding, spraying and seeding."
The Digital Farmhand can also use accessible smartphone technologies along with AI to provide crop analytics such as yield estimation or pest and disease identification.
Professor Sukkarieh's team is looking to build a localised, modular version of Digital Farmhand using materials that can be readily sourced within the APAC region, including electric/petrol scooter parts, making maintenance easier for communities. They are also developing open-source artificial intelligence packages for smartphones which can be easily accessed in the APAC.
"Our studies and fieldwork have found that the issues concerning smallholder farmers in the APAC are no different to those in Australia, so we believe the technology can provide the same benefits. However, it is the economics of introducing the technology that requires different solutions," Prof Sukkarieh said.
