As soon as the labour-intensive sowing of the vegetation and irrigation, farmers are frequently noticed flocking to their farms with huge 20-litre tanks of insecticides on their backs.
This guide workout of spraying insecticides at the vegetation is hazardous no longer most effective to the farmers’ well being but in addition to the soil’s because the spray will get all over the place.
Within the procedure, a number of farmers additionally endure excessive labour prices that without delay have an effect on the income generated from the crop.
To counteract those problems confronted in a troublesome profession, a Bengaluru-based startup referred to as Niqo Robotics is the use of robotics and synthetic intelligence to make this environment friendly and cost-friendly for farmers.
Introduced in 2015 by means of a Bengaluru-based guy Jaisimha Rao, the agri-tech startup is on a challenge to construct available and dependable robots for long run and sustainable farming.
In August 2023, the corporate introduced its ‘AI-powered spot spray robots’ that selectively spray agrochemicals most effective at the plant, thus proscribing chemical air pollution of the soil and the farm’s ecosystems.
As of now, greater than 500 farmers in Maharashtra and Karnataka are the use of land-based robots to scale back their enter and labour prices.
Making precision agriculture a fact
Born in Tamil Nadu and raised in Kuwait within the Center East, Jaisimha finished his commencement in electric and laptop engineering from Carnegie Mellon College, USA. Thereafter, he joined an organization in New York and labored for seven years until 2014.
“I used to be in my 20s, so it used to be a laugh operating out of the country. However by means of that point, I realised how my long run within the company process used to be going to be and so I sought after to discover entrepreneurship,” the 37-year-old tells The Higher India.
On the age of 28, he hand over his well-paying process in america and got here again to his circle of relatives to settle in Karnataka. Whilst his friends steered he discover fintech entrepreneurship given his revel in, he didn’t wish to prohibit his alternatives.
It used to be most effective when he went to a espresso plantation at the outskirts of Bengaluru that he understood his objective.
“Someday, my father dragged me alongside to a espresso plantation that he needed to buy. Whilst conversing with some of the caretakers, I were given to understand that farmers undertake common, blanket spraying wherein chemical substances are unnecessarily seeped into the soil,” he says.
“After I puzzled the normal strategies, the caretaker mentioned that that is how they’ve been doing it for the remaining 50 years and proceed to take action. This got here as a marvel to me. I didn’t get any clinical clarification,” he provides.
After a little research, he briefly learnt that the meals rising practices in India had been in large part guide, and demanding enter selections had been made in response to conventional knowledge and no longer clinical knowledge.
“What struck me used to be how farmers in those plantations and different conventional vegetation spray on all the farm with none law. In relation to soil well being, every a part of the farm is other. I sought after to paintings on an concept to spot explicit portions of the farm that want spraying,” he provides.
With the appearance of cameras and synthetic intelligence, Jaisimha sought after to make use of a approach to make precision agriculture a fact. So, in 2015 he began Niqo Robotics provided with a imaginative and prescient of revolutionising Indian agriculture via innovation.
See, Choose, and Spray
For the primary 4 years, operating with farmers around the nation, Jaisimha used drones to take footage of various sections of the farms that had been inflamed with pests. He would then supply an analytical file to those farmers.
“Whilst the analytics had been useful for the farmers, sadly, they didn’t in finding it helpful sufficient to pay for it. For them, it used to be great to have a file nevertheless it wasn’t essentially essential,” he says.
Realising what used to be wanted, he additional labored on land-based robots that no longer most effective permit farmers to analyse actions at the farm but in addition to do so.
The corporate introduced those AI-based robots remaining 12 months for trial within the Akola district, Maharashtra, drawing near cotton farmers of the area. Final month, they officially introduced 50 such robots to be used.
The usage of 3 steps – see, make a choice, spray – Jaisimha’s robot sprayer makes use of a special occasion and night-vision digital camera to look every plant. It then makes use of high-speed and built in computer systems to spot the crops to spray at the fields. Thereafter, it makes use of precision nozzles to ship the proper dose of insecticides without delay at the plant.
“Our core generation is the digital camera which is connected to the sprayers. The cameras differentiate between a plant and soil. The digital camera recognises the positioning of a plant and alerts the nozzles to spray. The nozzle shuts anyplace there may be soil,” he provides.
Over blanket spraying insecticides, Jaisimha says, farmers can considerably save as much as 60 p.c on pesticide prices.
However how did the farmers obtain it?
On the village stage within the Akola area, the Niqo Robotics staff facilitated demos for farmers in June remaining 12 months.
“Shall we stay claiming large effects however the farmers received’t imagine it until they see it. They’re used to seeing this workout being achieved by means of machines and tractors,” Arha Padman, leader advertising officer, tells The Higher India.
Speaking concerning the reaction of farmers once they first see the robotic sprayers, Arha says that it’ll rather well be a mystical second for them. “To start with, they idea that this can be a common gadget, however as soon as our 10m lengthy sprayer increase opens, cameras activate, and the nozzles move off and on, the farmers see its possible.”
She provides, “And after the demos are achieved, farmers guide the robots for a spraying consultation.” As in keeping with the corporate’s operating fashion, farmers hire and guide the robots from them for spraying. For this, they’re charged Rs 350 in keeping with acre.
“As an example, Yogesh Raut, a farmer who grows cotton and soybean vegetation, used to be very sceptical about us to begin with. However after the demo, he booked the robotic for one spraying consultation. Once he noticed the consequences, he booked the following consultation,” she says.
Sharing his revel in with The Higher India, Yogesh who owns a 30-acre farmland says, “When considered one of my pals indexed the benefits of the use of those robotic sprayers, I may just no longer imagine him. It used to be most effective after the 2 periods on my vegetation that I realised he used to be no longer mendacity.”
He provides, “Most often, we manually spray our vegetation which prices Rs 1,200 in keeping with acre. With those robots, my paintings is getting achieved in part the volume and moreover, we’re saving at the pesticide prices too.”
“Instead of this, we also are in a position to save lots of time. Labourers employed for this process take a whole day to do it. With those robots, we’re in a position to safe the fields inside of two hours. I’m very thankful to the corporate for serious about us farmers,” provides the 42-year-old farmer.
Like Yogesh, 500 farmers throughout Karnataka and Maharashtra are the use of the robotic sprayers on hire.
As of now, the generation is designed to spray insecticides on vegetation like cotton and chilies reasonably than paddy fields.
Highlighting the demanding situations the corporate faces on the grassroots stage, Jaisimha says, “Despite the fact that farmers are keen to just accept the generation, they imagine that the extra you spray, the upper yield you get. This is a little difficult to cause them to perceive the significance of selective spraying.”
This 12 months, the staff has sprayed over 1 lakh acres of farmland to this point. Jaisimha intends to scale the generation to extra areas for a similar vegetation.
Understanding that his generation helps a few of Indian agriculture’s maximum urgent problems like labour scarcity and useful resource potency, this complete endeavour has been extraordinarily pleasant for Jaisimha. He’s additionally happy that he’s doing one thing for his countrymen reasonably than operating out of the country.
“We have now helped farmers optimise their operations, spice up go back on funding, and minimise agriculture’s environmental footprint via our innovative robotics answers,” he provides.
“Our adventure has most effective simply begun, and we’re devoted to proceeding our paintings on this sector and past, pushing the frontiers of what’s conceivable with robots and automation,” he says.
Edited by means of Padmashree Pande. All pictures: Niqo Robotics.