SFTW Convo: Open source pioneer discusses opportunities and challenges
Welcome to another edition of SFTW Convos! This week’s edition features Guy Coleman, a post-doc researcher in Denmark, who is the driving source behind the open source precision weeding project called OWL. For you Harry Potter fans, this is not “Ordinary Wizarding Levels”, but OpenWeedLocator.
Open Source is not a new concept in the technology world. One of the world’s largest operating systems in the server market called Linux is an open source system. Linux dominates cloud computing, powering over 90% of cloud infrastructure. It is the backbone for major public cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure due to its scalability, security, and cost-effectiveness.
Open source is not as prevalent in agriculture, though there are some initiatives which have been ongoing for some time.
Guy Coleman has built an open source precision weed detection system using mostly off-the shelf hardware components and software. It is now supported by a world wide open source community. Guy is a strong proponent of open source. I will admit I was very skeptical about open source in agriculture, but after this interesting conversation, I am less of a skeptic than before. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.
Given this is a discussion about open source, this edition is available to all subscribers. (Even though free and open source are different concepts).
Guy also writes a regular newsletter about open source. .
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Summary of the Conversation
In this conversation, Guy Coleman, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen, discusses his journey from medicine to agriculture, focusing on precision weed control and the potential of open source tools in agriculture. He highlights the need for precision weed control to address issues like herbicide resistance and the importance of community engagement in developing open source solutions.
Guy emphasizes the need for a supportive infrastructure and governance structure to facilitate the growth of open source agriculture, while also addressing the barriers to adoption and the organic interest in these tools. In this conversation, Guy Coleman and I discuss the potential of open source solutions in agriculture, focusing on the OpenWeedLocator project. We explore various business models, the importance of local entrepreneurship, and the challenges of integrating open source technology with existing systems. The discussion also highlights the need for collaboration among different open source initiatives and the opportunities for future growth in the sector. We address the complexities of hardware integration and the metrics for measuring the success of open source projects.
Precision Weed Control
Rhishi Pethe: Guy, thanks for joining. Could you walk through your background and what you’re working on now?
Guy Coleman: Thanks for having me on, Rhishi. It’s a pleasure to be here. I’m Guy, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen, based in sunny Denmark. I’m originally from Australia, and I grew up with a bit of both worlds, a mix of city life and country life. My dad’s a farmer out in the countryside, and I lived in the city with my mom. I’ve always been interested in agriculture and tractors, but I never really thought of it as a career path.
That changed in 2016 when I decided to swap from medicine to agriculture. After traveling and working as a research technician, I realized that agriculture, and weeds specifically, wasn’t just a side hobby for me. It was something I could actually build a career around.
From there, I shifted into studying ag technology, trained in ag science, and went on to do a PhD. I spent some time working in precision agriculture up in Narrabri, about seven hours north of Sydney, and also studied in Texas for a bit with Dr. Muthu at Texas A&M. I’ve been based in Denmark for a while now, and I did my PhD back in Sydney. So I’ve moved around a fair bit.
Most of my work has focused on weed recognition and precision weed control. I’ve experimented with laser weeding, detection technologies, robotic platforms and open-source tools. I’m also self-taught in software development and machine learning.
Rhishi Pethe: Why do we need precision weed control? What problems go unsolved without precision weed control, and how does this approach fix them?