Crops

Resembling a grape with thicker and darker skin, the kiwiberry may be one of the least known and most underrated fruits on Earth. It's also old, dating back more than 20 million years. But until recently, we only cared about the plant's aesthetics.

Japanese agri-tech company Nextage has developed a mobile wasabi growing module that automates cultivation. The device reportedly allows anyone to grow their own crops without the limitations of geography or lack of experience.

The spraying of orchards and vineyards certainly isn't an eco-friendly process, with tractors spewing exhaust as they douse crops in herbicides and pesticides. That's one of the main reasons the electric, autonomous Prospr robot was created.

Just like their field-dwelling counterparts, plants grown in greenhouses are preyed upon by flying insects. The Dutch-designed PATS system is designed to help, by sending tiny drones to chop those insects up in mid-air.

The spotted lanternfly is a serious invasive pest, causing considerable damage to crops such as apples, grapes and hops. That's why it's important to destroy the insect's eggs – which is exactly what the TartanPest robot is designed to do.

Just like pharmaceuticals, banknotes and alcoholic beverages, the crop seeds sold to farmers are frequently counterfeits. MIT scientists have devised a method of spotting the fakes, by tagging genuine seeds with silk dots.

Nobody likes the idea of herbicides in their veggies, yet hiring workers to pick weeds by hand can be prohibitively expensive. The Vulcan farm implement offers an alternative, as it automatically spots and yanks weeds while leaving crop plants alone.

In order to see how well a corn plant is performing photosynthesis, you need to check the angle of its leaves relative to its stem. And while scientists ordinarily have to do so with a protractor, a new robotic system can now do the job much quicker.

When we think of agricultural robots, we tend to picture things that pick produce or apply chemicals. The SentiV is different, though, in that it's designed to check crops for problems while autonomously wandering the fields.

According to Japanese robotics firm Agrist, there's a shortage of farm workers in that country. The company is offering a partial solution to the problem, though, in the form of a pepper-picking robot.

If fruit is going to be grown using herbicides – which is still largely the case – then the fewer of the chemicals that are used, the better. The Herbicide GUSS autonomous robotic spray vehicle was designed with just such concerns in mind.

Along with being costly, herbicides can also harm the environment … so why apply them to a whole crop, instead of just the areas where weeds are growing? That's the thinking behind the Solix Sprayer robot, which spots and sprays weeds in fields.