Weedkilling robots slash herbicide use

[MrBishop]

Weedkilling robots slash herbicide use


19:00 04 June 03

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition

Robots make unlikely green warriors, but they could soon be doing their bit for the environment. Trials of a Danish robot that maps the position of weeds growing among crops suggest that herbicide use could be slashed by 70 per cent if farmers used it to adopt more selective spraying techniques.

The robot drives across fields scanning the ground for any weeds and noting their positions. A later version will be able to kill the weeds too by applying a few drops of herbicide, says developer Svend Christensen from the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences in Tjele.


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[Dave]

i wonder how much more difficult it would be to develop one that can recognize harmful insects. reducing pesticides would be just as nice.

 

[Professur]

The best pesticide is a better pest. They've introduced a fly in Florida to control the fire ant population. It selectively attacks fire ants and lays an egg in it's thorax. On hatching, the larva burrows up into the ant's brain and eats it. It then cocoons there and grows into an adult fly to start the cycle over again. So long as the fly only attacks fire ants, it's a great plan.

The problem is that evolution isn't static. Those flies are gonna, sooner or later, find out that other ants are just as tasty.

 

[MrBishop]

The best pesticide is a better pest. They've introduced a fly in Florida to control the fire ant population. It selectively attacks fire ants and lays an egg in it's thorax. On hatching, the larva burrows up into the ant's brain and eats it. It then cocoons there and grows into an adult fly to start the cycle over again. So long as the fly only attacks fire ants, it's a great plan.

The problem is that evolution isn't static. Those flies are gonna, sooner or later, find out that other ants are just as tasty.

They have something similar for those damn white grubs that are taking out our lawns in the Monteregie...only it's a typpe of Wasp, that doesn't bug humans...sounds nice...but it's illegal to import to Canada at this point, and the spray is now illegal in Quebec...so, I get no damn lawn, and I can't do a damn thing about it

 

[Professur]

Those are beetle larvae. Are you kidding me? You're home growing one of the best bass baits you can get, and you want rid of them? Are you nuts?