The WEEDINATOR Autonomous Tractor Is Designed to Make Robotic Farming Affordable

Robotic farming is becoming more and more popular, and the practice is important in keeping food costs low—even as demand increases. According to a report on agricultural robots from IDTechEx, more than 300,000 autonomous tractors were sold in 2016 alone. Autonomous tractors dramatically improve farming efficiency because they can work day and night without breaks. But, the tractors themselves are expensive—a problem that the WEEDINATOR is designed to solve.

The WEEDINATOR is an open source autonomous tractor that’s capable of cultivating, tilling, and weeding seed beds. It’s constructed from off-the-shelf parts, and the idea is that anyone can build one themselves on a budget. Unlike the proprietary autonomous tractors that dominate the market today, the WEEDINATOR is intended to be accessible, instead of just profitable for corporate shareholders.

As the WEEDINATOR team envisions it, small farms will be able to reach the efficiency that keeps large industrialized farms going. The WEEDINATOR is still in the R&D phase, but there are already prototypes that look very promising. The team fully intends to keep the project open source, so it’s definitely something to keep your eye on if you’re interested in small-scale farming.