Scouting robot for aphids detection (lice) in the field

Our Cam-Bot is 1,5 shoebox in size and weighs 12 kilograms. 

It goes through the (potato) beds with the sole purpose to take pictures from the lowest leaves, since they are the first to suffer from stress, diseases etc. Their defense mechanism is lower due to the suns not shining directly on the chlorophyll.

Disease like Phytophtora infestans and Alternaria start there in the first wave. Second wave is the production of spore (millions) to spread over the field.

We have an app that converts images into data from satellite, meteorology, soil and plant scientific data. You can download it from Playstore and Apple store searching for Rapagra. This will divide the parcel in quarters of 10x10 meters. We calculate plant health and disease impact per 10x10. Plant health is the first indication of where a disease might manifest itself when it comes. We sent out the Cam-Bot to those quarters where we see a significant negative difference compared to the other quadrants. My personal goal is to find the weakest plants in the field, which is already possible after emerging state of the plant. These weakest plants are the future hosts of a disease so to spot them on time will postpone having a disease in your field that has yield and/or health repercussions.

The Cam-Bot drives in the night autonomously through the fields and activates the photosynthesis in the lowest leaves. Based on the speed of the light absorption and conversion in the chlorophyll, we can tell how healthy the plant is. In the morning we show these in the app per plant through GPS co-ordinates that can be loaded in a task card, if needed.

The second function of the Cam-Bot is that it spots aphids (lice) under the leaves. With a light source we light up the green peach lice, cotton lice etc. and can see the difference. Based on that we can estimate the colony size versus the expansion drift of these aphids. It is important to have the right timing on insecticides and where to spray.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-P98eaL1sbg