Five weeks ago, MSParc as part of the AgriTech Wales NetZero Farming Project challenged Aerialworx to design, develop and deliver a fully autonomous drone which could detect weeds and deliver a liquid treatment.
Aerialworx Wales accepted the challenge and what they delivered in 5-weeks is truly amazing, a fully autonomous terrain following drone which uses AI artificial intelligence to detece weeds and deliver the appropriate treatment.
Stef Williams, CEO of Aerialworx, explained:
“Spreading pesticides on farmlands is a time-consuming process, and a lot of pesticide needs to be used to cover a whole field. Not only that, but it comes with an exposure risk to the farmer, and a spillage risk to the environment, wildlife, and livestock.”
“There is a Code of Practice to ensure safety, but this increases the workload and the financial burden for the farmer. There must be a way we can reduce carbon while also making pesticide treatment more effective. We build and fly purpose-built drones every day, so we knew this was a project we were up to tackling.”
“We always have two or three custom drone projects on the go, quite often in collaboration with Universities and other businesses. One area of focus at the moment is changing the typical UAV behaviour and we’ve now successfully completed a number of projects where AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology is being used to enable the UAV to make quick and efficient decisions and change the primary or intermediate mission.”.
For the AgriTech NetZero Farm Challenge, Aerialworx delivered a fully autonomous, artificially intelligent, terrain following drone. This drone has been aptly named, the “Green Eagle” and watching it in operation is a delight.
Pryderi ap Rhisiart, Managing Director of M-SParc said:
“Watching the Green Eagle in operation is amazing. The Aerialworx team program the drone, so that it knows what part of the field needs scanning and then they press the button and off it goes looking for weeds and spot delivering pesticide.”
“The future of agriculture is loaded with challenges and opportunities for innovation and technology. This explored the challenges and opportunities, delivering a prototype and a glimpse of the future.”
“This is a very exciting project, developed by Welsh companies here in North Wales. There is opportunity to continue this project, creating well-paid, specialist careers in developing this technology further. It’s just another way we are proving that rural areas can be, and indeed are, at the centre of innovation.”
Stef Williams, CEO of Aerialworx, explained:
The entire project took us five weeks from initial concept to functional prototype. You might ask, “How is this possible in five weeks?”. Well, I wont lie, it was a lot of hard work and a lot of evenings and weekends spent in the office by the entire team. In a nutshell, we spent the first week researching and developing all elements of the design. As we do with all custom projects, we spent a LOT of time using specialist software packages such as Autodesk Fusion360 and SolidWorks to design and visualize the drone before it even exists. These CAD, CAM, CAE software packages then link to our various machines and enable us to precisely CNC cut and mill parts as well as manufacturing 3D components using additive technology. During the early part of the second week, we ordered all the electrical components, ancillaries and raw materials and during the latter part of the second week, everyone was flat-out in our workshop preparing all the component parts ready for the following week. It was also during the second week that we started all the AI software development work. Over 2000 training images were taken and over the following weeks, would be used to train the AI neural network to identify weeds. We started week three with a pile of parts and by the end of the week the team had completed the build process. All the carbon plating, tubing, mounts, hinges, screws, bolts, propellers, motors, speed controllers and computers had been put together to form what we now called “The Green Dragon”. We spent the fourth week test flying and refining all the elements. By the end of the fourth week she flew beautifully and all that remained was for us to integrate the AI software and hope that all the AI training that had been going on for the past four weeks had paid off.
In the fifth and final week, everything was brought together and fine tuned. The result was a fully functional prototype drone which could take-off automatically, fly over a selected area of a field and follow the terrain maintaining a fixed distance from the surface, scan for weeds and if found, lower in altitude and deliver the liquid payload by 8 seperate spray jets, climb back to operating altitude and continue the flight and finally landing all autonomously with no pilot intervention. Stef Williams went on to say “she is proud of the entire team and all the hard work that everyone put in over the past five weeks. Well done! x”.
“The Aerialworx team are leaders in UAV Research, Development and Consultancy for government, military and private projects”. Based at the prestigious MSParc Menai Science Park in Anglesey, North Wales, the team consists of experts within the fields of aerospace engineering, electronic engineering, software engineering and emerging UAV technologies. The Aerialworx workshop is state-of-the-art and fully loaded with the latest technology (check out the 360 virtual tour).
To date, we have worked on a number of bespoke / custom build drones for a variety of projects. Our latest UAV technology includes AI artificially intelligent UAVs which are capable of intelligent navigation without a GNSS / GPS signal.
Working to our own tried and tested methodology, we can develop anything from basic UAVs which can operate at a press of a button, to complex and fully autonomous UAVs operating using AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology. Some of our more complex projects involve us developing a complete turnkey solution, UAV and accompanying software for complex problems, complex environments and situations. Using collission avoidance and AI technology we can achieve great things!
Call us today on 0345 4598899 to discuss your UAV project and requirements.
