Disease-Spotting Robot Attains Accuracy of Human Scouts

Scientists at Cornell University report that an autonomous robot used to spot grape diseases in vineyards can be as accurate as human scouts. The PhytoPatholoBot moves between rows of grapevines to scan them for signs of disease. Its developers say the device can compensate for increasingly scarce skilled labor by doing the work of four to five crop scouts with just one operator. The robot can also help growers target disease treatment in order to reduce pesticide use. The research team anticipates that this technology could readily adapt to scanning other crops and identifying disease outbreaks. A startup in California aims to produce PhytoPatholoBot robots for commercial use.