Autonomous Farming Cropbot

Rowbot is commercializing a concept to fertilize row crops with a fleet of small robots.  Deployed devices operate between crop rows to apply nitrogen fertilizer when the crop can most benefit. A single operator oversees the fleet and performs maintenance and routine support functions.

Rowbot partnered with CRL for access to a strong technical team that was able to build, research, develop and demonstrate a fully autonomous system in under 8 months.

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A 30-inch standard corn row spacing constrained the platform to envelop and required CRL to design a 22 inch wide, mid-body steered, custom vehicle that stores the liquid nitrogen in low tanks that double as the chassis structure. Powered by a 13 hp diesel engine, the system moves at 4 mph through the cornrows applying nitrogen at the plant base. A front-mounted MultiSense SL camera provides the 3D information to guide the system autonomously through the cornrows.