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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday April 19 2017, @11:48PM   Printer-friendly
from the where-is-the-jane-robot? dept.

When you've got a crop full of plants growing in a field, inspecting each and every one of them can be very monotonous work. That's why scientists are working on plant-inspecting robots, that perform the task autonomously. Most of those 'bots are wheeled, however, meaning that they could get stuck or fall over – plus they might get in the way of other machinery. With that in mind, scientists from Georgia Tech have created a prototype robot that swings over the plants like a monkey. It's called Tarzan.

The idea is that in fields where a Tarzan robot is being used, each row of plants will have a tightly-strung guy wire running overhead. Using its two "arms," the robot will swing itself along that wire, imaging the plants below with its built-in cameras as it does so. When it gets to the end of one row, it will just swing over to the wire running above the next row over, and start making its way back down it. That process will be repeated, until it covers the whole field.

It does sound like a better option than a wheeled robot--muck in the fields can get pretty deep.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 20 2017, @01:46AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 20 2017, @01:46AM (#496653)

    You've got the Golden Touch!

    15/15

    Damn I'm old.

  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday April 20 2017, @02:11AM (2 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Thursday April 20 2017, @02:11AM (#496660)

    Same, despite quite a few of these being obsolete before I was born.

    • (Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Thursday April 20 2017, @05:06AM (1 child)

      by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Thursday April 20 2017, @05:06AM (#496701)

      I was confused why 2/3rd of the tech lacked pictures... Did not realize it was a test.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 20 2017, @06:00AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 20 2017, @06:00AM (#496714)

        The washing machine looks like a water heater if you don't notice the wringer.