A local company started by alumni from Arizona State University works with various farms to incorporate AI-powered technology in the field.
Padma AgRobotics came to fruition thanks to support from an entrepreneurial initiative at ASU.
The company communicated with farmers and developed AI robots to help with farm work.
One robot already in the field acts as a moving scarecrow.
Another machine pulls out weeds using a mechanical arm.
Co-founder Raghu Nandivada says the need for this technology comes as a way to respond to problems encountered by farmers.
“The urgency to get these machines working, the AI-based machines working, is all the more higher right now due to all the issues like labor shortage and the higher pay that farmers are encountering right now,” he said.
Arizona farms working with Padma AgRobotics include Blue Sky Organic Farms and Duncan Family Farms.
Arizona Farm Bureau president John Boelts praised such technology and says agriculture is good at embracing this automation.
“I think it's tremendous. I mean, agriculture is very labor intensive. It doesn't matter whether you're talking about crops that grow in soil or crops that grow on trees,” he said.
Boelts says he utilizes an automated thinner and weeder on his own farm.
