Horticultural robotics hub up and running

Australia's first horticultural robotics learning and development centre has officially been launched and will commit an initial $10 million to developing autonomous technology to increase on-farm efficiencies.

The Horticulture Innovation Centre for Robotics and Intelligent Systems (HICRIS) is a joint initiative between the University of Sydney, government and industry, and is located within the university's Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies.

Horticulture Innovation Australia chief executive, John Lloyd says the new hub will help the horticulture industry prepare for the future.

"Working with the University of Sydney, we have been able to develop technology that can detect foreign matter, robots that can map tree-crop architecture, and with ground-breaking autonomous weed identification and eradication capabilities," he says.

"Through the Horticulture Innovation Centre for Robotics and Intelligent Systems, this research will be further expanded to investigate capabilities such as automated crop forecasting to predict the best time to harvest and ground penetrating radar sensors to measure things like soil water content."

He adds the centre can also help identify commercial partnerships to make new technologies more accessible to growers.

"This centre will give current and emerging generations of growers and agri-scientists the resources they need to develop their ideas for the benefit of the industry, and all Australians," he says.

Australian Centre for Field Robotics (Robotics research arm of University of Sydney) Director of Research and Innovation, Professor Salah Sukkarieh says the HICRIS will initially have six research fellows, five PhD students and six technical staff.

"It will attract Australia’s brightest minds in engineering and science," he says.

"It will also act as a training facility for Australian growers and the future generations of students who are passionate about creating innovative solutions to make farming more efficient."