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Today’s edition looks at Carbon Robotics' recent announcement of AutoTractor.
Full disclosure: I am NOT an investor in Carbon Robotics. The analysis is based on publicly available information only. This content is for informational purposes only and represents the opinions of the author. It is not meant as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
Monitored Autonomy
In edition 143 of the newsletter (Salinas we have a problem - Sept 2023), I had written about the concept of a network operations center for remote operation and monitoring of farm equipment. I had theorized this will be a future service offered to small and medium sized farms, who don’t have the resources to have a technology team of their own on the farm.
The operations center owns and operates a fleet of equipment, which includes autonomous planters, autonomous selective sprayers, semi to autonomous scouting and spraying drones, autonomous harvesters, which are supplied with inputs like seed & chemicals, biological products, from a regional distribution center.
Cameras mounted on equipment, stationary cameras in the field, and IoT devices provide a constant stream of information and intelligence back to the network operations center. Artificial Intelligence models, supported by large amounts of real data from the ground, constantly make real time decisions with minimal or no human intervention.
The network operations center monitors and manages operations across hundreds of small and medium sized farms. The farm owner gets a regular report on important events, and can hop on their smartphone to see real time operations in the field, while watching their kids Little League baseball game.
The operations are operated by a small crew of trained engineers, soil scientists, product experts, computer & data scientists, drone pilots, and autonomous equipment experts.
Carbon Robotics recently announced the availability of a new capability dubbed the AutoTractor. According to the Carbon Robotics website, the AutoTractor can be used in two different ways.
Seamlessly integrates with Carbon Robotics’ LaserWeeder automatically adjusting tractor speed to optimize weed control and increase coverage by up to 20%.
Autonomously handles tilling, cultivating, chisel plowing, discing, listing, mulching, and mowing - all without an on-site driver.
Before the announcement of the AutoTractor, Carbon Robotics main product in the market was the LaserWeeder. Based on publicly available information, and statements made by Carbon Robotics, and people associated with the company, they have sold close to 100 units of their more than a million dollar LaserWeeder units.
The LaserWeeder removes the need for hand weeding. It works well in organic specialty crops where the labor prices are high. It is better suited for high density crops, where it is challenging to get a human crew in to do weeding.
Based on the organic protocol, there are limitations on the type of chemicals which can be sprayed on a crop and so a non-chemical option like a laser, mechanical weeding, or hot oil (yes, hot oil) are good alternatives.
If you look at their current LaserWeeder product, it has to move at a speed of 2-3 miles per hour. It requires a driver in a tractor to work constantly at the slow speed. The operational time the LaserWeeder can work is limited by the availability of a driver and also puts pressure on how many acres can be covered by the LaserWeeder in a day.