In the heart of the Netherlands, a revolution is brewing in the fields of seed potato cultivation. For decades, the meticulous task of selecting and removing diseased plants has been a labour-intensive, manual process, requiring skilled workers to trawl through fields, identifying and eliminating infected specimens. However, several developers are now on the cusp of changing this landscape forever, with robots powered by artificial intelligence set to take on the challenge.
The seed potato industry is a critical component of global agriculture, providing high-quality planting material for potato growers. The process of selecting and removing diseased plants is not just about maintaining crop health; it’s also about ensuring the genetic purity and vigour of the seed potatoes. This task demands a keen eye and considerable experience, making it a bottleneck in the industry’s quest for efficiency and scalability.
Enter the world of AI and robotics. Several developers are currently working on robots that can identify infected plants with the same, if not greater, accuracy as human selectors. The technology behind these robots is already available, and the arguments for continuing development are becoming increasingly compelling. Next year, the first pre-series robots are expected to enter the field, marking a significant milestone in the industry’s evolution.
The potential benefits of this technology are manifold. Automation could help reduce the substantial costs associated with manual selection, addressing labour shortages and freeing up human workers for other tasks. Moreover, if the robots can outperform human selectors, it would represent a significant leap forward in crop health and efficiency.
The Dutch agricultural magazine Boerderij has been investigating the progress of these developments and has discovered that multiple parties are actively preparing to bring AI-based robotic technology for potato selection into practice. Significant savings are at stake, with seed potato selection requiring 20 or more hours of work per hectare, and fields being selected 3 to 5 times per season. If robots can significantly reduce this workload, it would justify substantial investment.
The success of similar technology in tulip cultivation has also encouraged developers to turn their ideas into practice. Since 2020, dozens of robots have been operating in tulip fields, saving a great deal of labour. The Selector, developed by H2L Robotics, has proven to deliver quality results, and growers have been quick to invest. The potato industry, with its much larger global scale, presents an even greater opportunity.
So, how will these potato selection robots work? Currently, developers are focused on collecting and analysing large volumes of images of diseased and healthy potato plants. This data is used to develop algorithms capable of identifying infected plants in other images. The challenge lies in the variability of disease expression across different varieties and growth stages, but the expectation is that once the algorithms can reliably identify diseased plants in several varieties, it will become easier to recognise them in others.
The robots will initially mark diseased plants with dye, which will then be manually removed in a separate round. However, the data collected by the robots could provide additional benefits, such as monitoring plant growth, mapping symptoms of drought or damage, and even identifying the source and spread of infections.
Several companies are involved in this race to bring a potato selection robot to market. Croptimal, a start-up founded last year, is one of them. The company is currently focused on data collection, processing, and prototype testing, with promising results already achieved in identifying two varieties. Other players include the DigiAgro3 consortium, which is developing the ‘Pieperkieker,’ an autonomous vehicle capable of detecting diseased potatoes using camera technology.
The road ahead is not without its challenges. Creating a high-performing machine that can operate reliably in the field requires substantial investment and time. However, with the core technology already available and the potential benefits clear, the drive to bring these robots to market is stronger than ever. The seed potato industry stands on the brink of a technological revolution, and the future looks promising.