AWARD YEAR
2017
CATEGORY
Work
GOALS
Life On Land
KEYWORDS
robotics , farming, irrigation
COUNTRY
Italy
DESIGNED BY
Professor Stefano Carpin, UC Berkeley Professor Ken Goldberg and Professor Stavros Vougioukas
WEBSITE
http://www.ucmerced.edu/news/2016/robots-and-people-working-together-save-water-and-enhance-agriculture
rapid system
Conserving water through co-robotics, with workers interacting with technology for precision
Robots and humans are working together to save water and enhance agriculture.
An estimated 85% of the world’s freshwater is used for agriculture. The RAPID system (short for Robot-Assisted Precision Irrigation and Diagnostics) has the potential to significantly reducing water consumption globally, while increasing crop yield and quality.
RAPID conserves water through co-robotics, with workers interacting with technology for precision irrigation at individual plant level. Small, plastic emitters attached to individual irrigation lines are precisely controlled by handheld devices operated by field workers or mounted on mobile robots. The devices signal the emitters to adjust the amount of water each vine receives.