可以帮助农民干活的机器人

Robot Can Help With Farm Work 可以帮助农民干活的机器人

In the American state of Idaho, a robot moves between lines of fruit trees and grapevines. It is doing farm work.

Called “IdaBot,” this robot is a prototype, or model. An engineering team at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho, developed IdaBot.

It looks like a small military tank. But, it is armed with cameras and radio frequency sensors¹ instead of guns. It moves slowly through an orchard², spraying chemicals on each plant that needs treatment.

It can do other jobs too, including watching over crops and harvesting them.

How the robot works

The robot uses radio frequency identification in its work. This process uses electronic devices on the trees or grapevines to identify them. As the IdaBot moves through the orchards³, it “reads” the devices on the plants to learn what it needs.

Josh Griffin is one of the project leaders. He explains how the robot works.

“You can program into the IdaBot, trees number one, and trees number five need chemicals. Each tree will have a radio frequency identification tag on it. The IdaBot would use the signal from the tag to determine which tree it is next to. When it is next to tree five, it will spray chemicals on tree number five, when it is on tree number one, it will spray the chemicals there.”

Griffin, an assistant engineering professor, says the robot can work on its own. It can also work with other technology, like drones – small pilotless planes.

In an experiment, a drone carried a special camera that captures images of grapevines or fruit trees.The image information is processed through a computer program. The color of the image lets the robot know how much chemical the plants need.

Griffin says the robot can help farmers save money on labor⁴. It also saves money by reducing the use of chemicals. And that helps the environment.

“It automatically, without human intervention⁵, applies the chemicals and then it does so in very low pressure. So, it does so very precisely⁶. The chemicals go where you want them to go, not over spraying to other areas.”

Fruit Counting Application

The robot team of students and professors is also developing a Fruit Counting Application for the IdaBot. It uses a vision system to correctly estimate the size of the fruit crop.

Duke Bulanon, another assistant engineering professor, works with Griffin on the project. He explains that the system will use several different kinds of cameras—color, near-infrared and stereo cameras. They will take images from each tree as IdaBot moves along the orchard.

“Then we will use those images and create a computer program to estimate the number of fruits on each tree.”

Farmer Michael Williamson owns an orchard in Caldwell, Idaho. He says he is looking forward to trying out the computer program on his trees.

“I am very excited about this experiment and this machine that can count our fruit. We can get a better price for our customers if we pre-order or pre-sell our fruit months in advance. Sometimes it can be better than 20 percent. And that is the important part about the fruit counting.”

Being able to get a correct count of the fruit helps in many ways.

Farmer Williamson says if they have a correct count of the fruit, he can predict how many people he needs for the harvest. He can also predict how many shipping⁷ boxes he will need to ship them. And, he says, he can predict the market.

What will it cost?

How much would farmers have to pay for this robot? Big pieces of farm equipment can be expensive. But Griffin estimates a basic IdaBot that uses radio frequency identification technology would be relatively⁸ low-cost.

“We do anticipate that it will be fairly affordable⁹. You know, kind of on the order of maybe buying a pickup¹⁰ truck or something like that.”

The researchers expect the money the farmers save by using this robot would also help consumers—because they will find lower fruit prices at the market.

Words in This Story

prototype -– n. a model of something

radio frequency sensors – n. electronic devices on an item that stores information and gives it to a person or computer

orchard – n. a group of trees where food, like fruit or nuts, are grown

automatically – adv. something that works or happens without being directly controlled by a person

precisely – adv. very accurate and exact

advance – n. before something happens

accurate – adj. free from mistakes or errors

anticipate – v. to think of something that will or might happen in the future

pickup truck– n. a vehicle with an open back and low sides

1 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

2 orchard   

n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场

参考例句：

• My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
• Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。

3 orchards   

（通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They turned the hills into orchards and plains into granaries. 他们把山坡变成了果园，把平地变成了粮仓。
• Some of the new planted apple orchards have also begun to bear. 有些新开的苹果园也开始结苹果了。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

6 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

7 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

9 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

10 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。