BT has joined the ‘Robot Highway’s’ project exploring the use of robotics and IoT in agriculture which aims to drive automation, increase efficiency and improve sustainability.
The project- led by Saga Robotics alongside partners BT, University of Lincoln, Berry Gardens Growers Ltd, Clock House Farm, University of Reading, and the Manufacturing Technology Centre- aims to demonstrate how a fleet of robots can communicate to form a highly efficient supply chain operation.
Those involved with the project showcased a vision of the future of soft fruit farming, where robotics powered only by renewable energy sources will help farmers carry out essential tasks such as picking and packing fruit, and preventing common pests and diseases in crops.
The project highlighted how key agricultural processes can be enhanced through better forecasting accuracy and farm productivity as well as reducing farm labour, fruit waste and use of fungicide.
BT has tested the edge and cloud architecture to deliver the infrastructure where these IoT services can run.
John Davies, chief Researcher at BT said: “We’re delighted to be part of the Robot Highways project to demonstrate how BT can help the agricultural sector to automate by integrating robotics and other solutions on a single platform.
“As a leader in network-based platforms and edge- infrastructure we are ideally placed to support advanced robotic farming operations.”
Anne Dingstad, CEO of Saga Robotics added: “We’re welcoming BT’s interest and support to help provide solutions that advance agricultural robotics in the UK. Connectivity plays a key part to advance automation and precision agriculture and to enable increased food production with less resources.”