Goldacres Weedetect ready for service

Following its initial launch at the Wimmera Field Days in March 2020, Goldacres Weedetect precision spraying technology, developed in conjunction with tech startup, Bilberry, is now available on its larger self-propelled sprayers.

The tech has also evolved from being capable of fallow spraying (green on brown) to now be able to precision spray weed in crop (green on green) as well.

Goldacres said its engineers spent countless hours working with Bilberry and Raven to produce a system that will help farmers spray accurately all year long and save significant cost and time.

Goldacres added the green on green technology in particular is a game changer as it allows for a year-round spraying program that will help farmers save even more money in the long run.

“Working with Bilberry and Raven has been a great experience,” said Goldacres Weedetect project manager, Dave Tuppen.

“Bilberry has been very busy working on the algorithms and logic behind the weed detection system, basically teaching the cameras what is a weed and what is not.”

Weedetect is essentially a precision spraying technology utilising cameras, artificial intelligence and calculation modules which work together to detect the presence of weeds. Once a weed is detected, the camera system ‘orders’ the sprayer to only open certain nozzles along the boom to target spray the weed.

By spot spraying weeds in the field, farmers can expect to save a significant amount of water, chemical and cost as opposed to blanket spraying the entire field, Goldacres said.

“The algorithms are the key to accurate target identification - the more data we provide, the more accurate this system will be,” Tuppen said.

“This has been the time-consuming part of the project.”

In order to help the system achieve maximum accuracy, developers had to obtain plenty of photos of various weeds in a range of crops at different stages of growth.

Tuppen said photos needed to be taken up to three times a day in varying light conditions and at different angles. In order to capture the different weed and crop growth stages, photos needed to be taken every eight to 10 days over a 10-week period.

“Basically, we are getting the full weed and crop growth over the growth cycle of the crop,” Tuppen said.

This data is then fed into the computer to ‘teach’ it to recognise weeds out in the field.

Crops that have been evaluated so far and can have a Weedetect system working accurately in include sorghum, cotton, potatoes, wheat, barley, oats, canola and lupins; for the detection of broadleaf and rye grass weeds.

The accuracy of the system also depends on factors such as boom height and stability, therefore Goldacres is recommending a height controller to be utilised alongside the Weedetect system to ensure the sprayer boom with cameras fitted on it sits no more than 1.5m above the target when spot spraying. 

“With this type of technology now available, we could see a shift to lighter machines with smaller tank capacity as more accurate sprayers start to form the future of spraying,” Tuppen said.

Weedetect comes standard as green on brown technology, with customers able to upgrade to green on green if required. The system can be used with Raven’s Hawkeye 2 PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation) system for individual nozzle control at 250mm or 16 section (5 nozzles) for a 2.5m spray coverage.

Weedetect is now available on Goldacres’ G6 and G8 Super self-propelled sprayers and will be available on the G4 in 2022.

Visit Goldacres' website or contact your local Goldacres dealer for more information.

Goldacres Weedetect features at a glance:

For more field days content and new machinery releases, visit farmmachinerysales's Virtual Field Days 2021 page.