Robot recognizes plants by simply touching the leaves
A robot can determine what kind of plant it is, what stage of growth it is in and whether it needs water by touching it.
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Chinese researchers from Shandong First Medical University and the Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences have developed a robot that can recognize plants at different stages of growth simply by touching them with an electrode. The robot can also measure the surface texture and water content of the plant, which should make it suitable for agricultural use.
The electrode with which the robot touches a plant leaf measures several properties simultaneously, the scientists write in the study "Iontronic tactile sensory system for plant species and growth-stage classification", which was published in Device. This includes, for example, the amount of charge that can be stored at a certain voltage. It also measures how difficult it is for the electric current to pass through the leaf. The contact force is also measured as soon as the robot grasps a leaf.
AI recognition
The data collected in this way is analyzed using artificial intelligence (AI). The plant can then be classified. It can be assigned different growth phases that correlate with the respective measurements. So far, the robot has been able to identify ten different plant species with an average accuracy of 97.7 percent.
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The recognition accuracy also depends on how complicated the plant structures are. For example, it has not yet been possible to recognize burdocks or conifers. According to the researchers, more work needs to be done to improve the design of the robot electrode.
First, however, the scientists want to increase the number of plants that can be recognized. To achieve this, they want to train the AI system with more plants. The sensor is also to be further developed so that it delivers data in real time, as the system has so far taken some time to collect the information.
The scientists see a possible area of application for the technology in agriculture. Farmers can use it to monitor the growth of plants, for example. Decisions on how much water and fertilizer they need could be made faster and in a more targeted manner. It would also make it possible to recognize at an early stage whether pests are present and need to be controlled.
The scientists see several advantages in their technology compared to contactless systems that only work based on visual methods and AI. They are more susceptible to disturbances such as lighting conditions, weather changes or background noise.
(olb)
