From geek toy to game-changer in less than a decade, artificial intelligence (AI) is ditching its ivory tower offices for farmers’ fields. And Canadian vegetable growers are seeing green, thanks to reduced crop protection and labour input costs.
The Ecorobotix sprayer, developed in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland by engineer Steve Tanner and business partner Aurélien Demaurex, is a prime example. From the start in 2011, their concept was to meet European environmental and sustainability standards while also delivering spraying efficiency for farmers around the globe. Their undertaking was comparable in scope to John Deere’s development in the U.S. of See and Spray technology for corn, soybeans and cotton.
To attain acceptable performance through emerging “see and act” technology, the Swiss team developed dependable large-language-format algorithms. Volumes of accurately labelled images covering a diverse cross-section of growing environments were needed to model their AI algorithms. This time-consuming process continues today as evidenced by the spring 2025 release of their operational algorithm for carrots.
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