SBIR Phase I: Precision Weeder

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是，它将有助于解决气候变化和可耕地可持续性的主要问题。农业工业中常用的两种杂草控制方法除草剂和土壤耕作对环境和土壤可持续性产生负面影响。除草剂的使用和土壤耕作破坏了土壤微生物环境的健康。此外，土壤耕作使土壤中的有机物暴露于氧化，将二氧化碳释放到大气中。减少农业实践对气候影响的目标是将碳封存在土壤中，而不是释放出来。此时，不使用除草剂或土壤耕作的中后期杂草控制的唯一选择是人工劳动，这是更昂贵的。精密除草机提取工具的成功开发和测试将为农业行业提供自动化和成本效益的选择，以解决杂草控制问题，同时有助于减少土壤的碳排放，保护土壤的可持续性。这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目涉及开发一种机器人末端执行器提取工具，该工具可以在不使用化学品或土壤耕作的情况下清除杂草。机器视觉的进步已经使识别田地里的单个植物成为可能，并确定哪些植物是作物，哪些是杂草。目前，自动除草机采用的两种主要的除草方法是定向喷洒除草剂或土壤耕作。这两种方法都对环境和土壤健康产生负面影响。所提出的精密除草机将提取和处理杂草，而不会损害土壤或环境。除草的经济性要求设备简单、经济、可靠，并具有现场硬化性。抽提工具的设计和开发将采用一种新颖的方法来去除杂草，在设计和驱动方面都有进步。该提取工具将在现场进行测试，以确定其可行性。成功的现场试验将使客户和投资者相信这是商业自动除草的可行选择。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is that it will help address the major concerns of climate change and sustainability of arable lands. The two common methods of weed control in the agricultural industry, herbicides and soil tillage, have a negative impact on the environment and soil sustainability. The health of the microbial environment in the soil is degraded by the use of herbicides and soil tillage. In addition, soil tillage exposes the organic matter in the soil to oxidation releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The goal for reducing the impact of agricultural practices on the climate is to sequester the carbon in the soil and not release it. At this time, the only option for weed control of mid to late stage weeds without the use of herbicides or soil tillage is manual labor, which is more expensive. The successful development and testing of the precision weeder extraction tool will give the agricultural industry an automated and cost effective option for addressing weed control while helping to reduce the carbon emission from the soil and protect soil sustainability.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project involves the development of a robotic end effector extraction tool that can remove weeds without using chemicals or soil tillage. Advances in machine vision have made it possible to identify the individual plants in a field and determine which plant is the crop and which one is the weed. Presently, the two predominant methods used by automated weeders to kill the weeds is either by a targeted herbicide spray or soil tillage. Both of these methods negatively impact the environment and soil health. The proposed precision weeder will extract and dispose of the weeds without damage to the soil or environment. The economics of weeding will require the device to be simple, cost effective, reliable, and field hardened. Design and development of the extraction tool will use a new and novel method for removing the weeds with advances in design and actuation. The extraction tool will be tested in the field to determine its feasibility. Successful field trials will convince the customer and investor that this is a viable option for commercial automated weeding.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.