{"id":18937,"date":"2024-11-26T07:26:47","date_gmt":"2024-11-26T07:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=18937"},"modified":"2024-11-26T07:26:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T07:26:47","slug":"robot-dog-could-sniff-out-profits-for-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=18937","title":{"rendered":"Robot dog could sniff out profits for farmers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"SoilSoil Association<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A gamma ray detector mounted on a robot dog maps the health of soil<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Robot dogs could help farmers more quickly assess the health of soil, scientists hope as a technology trial takes place in Cornwall.<\/p>\n

A gamma ray detector on a device developed by a Cornish company is being used to assess soil quality.<\/p>\n

Farmer Malcolm Barrett, a tenant farmer from St Tudy near Bodmin, is working with scientists from the University of Plymouth who are using a gamma ray detector mounted on a robot dog to map the health of the soil in his fields.<\/p>\n

He said he hoped the technology, which was better and faster than conventional analysis, could make farms more profitable buy reducing artificial additives if they were detected.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"A<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Robot dogs can be used for hard to reach places such as hills and hedgerows<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The robot dog was built by former University of Plymouth student Jake Shaw-Sutton, co-director of robotics company Robotriks in Par.<\/p>\n

He said: “Our newest trial is looking at and focusing on what’s going on with the soil, because it’s often not considered fully and that affects everything around it.”<\/p>\n

Robot dogs could also be used to examine hard-to-reach places such as hills and hedgerows, he added.<\/p>\n

Mr Shaw-Sutton said: “He’s got a top speed of 5m [16ft] a second, which is a tad faster than I am, and he weighs about 15kg [33lb].<\/p>\n

“The key advantage is because of those legs he’s able to climb up really difficult terrain and really difficult surfaces.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"A<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Tracked robots are also used to carry a sensor<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The \u00a325,000 gamma detector on the robot dog measures naturally occurring levels of radiation in the soil.<\/p>\n

Other more conventional-looking robots on tank-like tracks have also been involved in the work.<\/p>\n

Mr Barrett said: “Usually I’d use a trowel to dig out soil from five areas in a field.<\/p>\n

“Then I’d have to send this to a laboratory and wait for the results.”<\/p>\n

Trial leader Will Blake, from the University of Plymouth, said: “The ultimate goal is to provide a map of soil properties that are relevant to the farmer and his decision-making.<\/p>\n

“The problem that you have with traditional conventional soil assessments is that they’re very time consuming and expensive. <\/p>\n

“Normally, a farmer can only afford to have a few samples taken from any one field, then you have to wait some days or weeks for the data to come through.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Source: <\/em> www.bbc.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soil Association A gamma ray detector mounted on a robot dog maps the health of soil Robot dogs could help farmers more quickly assess the health of soil, scientists hope as a technology trial takes place in Cornwall. A gamma ray detector on a device developed by a Cornish company is being used to assess […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18937\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}