HortiBot: the autonomous, GPS-enabled weed eradicator

HortiBot won't go down as the first robot with weed extermination as its sole mission in life, but this particular robot ups the ante in a serious way. Conjured up by a team of Danish agricultural scientists, the three-foot by three-foot autonomous machine is "equipped with a computer and GPS to find the exact location of weeds," and being that it's also reportedly self-propelled, you hardly have to keep an eye on it. Moreover, the device can be flanked by an array of weed-removing attachments depending on a farmer's specific needs, and promises to curb "herbicide usage by 75-percent." Currently, the cost of one Hortibot would run around $71,000, but the crew hopes to land a manufacturing partner and reduce those charges when it (hopefully) goes commercial.

[Via Slashdot, image courtesy of HortiBot]

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 5th 2007 3:53PM]

I for one... welcome our autonomous, GPS-enabled weed eradicating robotic overlords?

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 5th 2007 5:59PM]

I, as well, welcome our GPS-enabled weed eradicating autonomous robot overlords.

[ack154 Posted Jul 5th 2007 3:59PM]

So does being autonomous mean it is less or more likely to jump off of a hill and kill someone like the radio controlled one did?

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 5th 2007 4:35PM]

"you hardly have to keep an eye on it"

I don't know about you, but I think I'd want to keep an eye on a autonomous robot wielding blades...

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 5th 2007 5:06PM]

I want to know how the GPS helps it find weeds.

But I'm curious how it differentiates weeds from whatever plant/grass it's supposed to be helping.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 5th 2007 5:25PM]

Or how it differentiates weeds from people, for that matter.

Although I'm all for anything that cuts down on the use of chemicals in agriculture, replacing herbicides with homicides might not be the best trade-off.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 5th 2007 5:32PM]

I hear they're working on a HortaBot for mining as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horta_(Star_Trek)

[Slaarg Posted Jul 5th 2007 5:43PM]

What type of weed ? The special ones hidden in closets under sodium lamps ?

[brett Posted Jul 5th 2007 10:18PM]

...it was as if suddenly, millions of stoners cried out at once, and were suddenly silent...

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 5th 2007 6:09PM]

They missed a golden opportunity -- should have called it RoboHoe.

[Joe Geronimo Posted Jul 6th 2007 8:01PM]

hahahaha

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 5th 2007 6:35PM]

Does this mean that Satalite cameras are so advanced they can detect dandylions in your back yard?? and so common that they are actually available for such a task... how about a hot sun bather detector which will auto- adjust my telescope accordingly and email me pictures if they cannot be seen from my appartment.. now that's a good use of technology

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 5th 2007 6:41PM]

Isn't that the same robot lawn mower thing that killed that one guy?

http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/31/robot-lawnmower-kills-danish-man-begins-resistance/

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 5th 2007 7:15PM]

The headline lead me to believe that this is robot was a high-tech drug-sniffer. Perhaps "the autonomous, GPS-enabled gardener" or something along those lines. Am I the only one that thought that?

[stridermt2k Posted Jul 5th 2007 9:02PM]

"Take care of the forest..."

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 6th 2007 12:18AM]

Ya, why not some Robots like on Silent Running!

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 6th 2007 2:58AM]

I wonder if this is the same Danish group that developed the lawnmower that killed a Danish man?

http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/31/robot-lawnmower-kills-danish-man-begins-resistance/