Who is running through my fields and cutting down the weeds? Or maybe I should ask, what is running through my fields and cutting down the weeds?
Today we’ll meet a rural entrepreneur who has founded a business producing autonomous robots that use mechanical means to cut down weeds close to the ground on broadacre crops across the Midwest.
It sounds like science fiction, but it’s happening in rural Kansas.
Clint Brauer is founder of Greenfield Robotics, which produces these AI-powered farming robots. Brauer is a third-generation farmer who grew up farming with his dad on their place near Cheney.
After graduating from Kansas State (K-State) University, he worked as a technology executive in Los Angeles, CA. During that 14-year career, he was a data systems pioneer at Sony, launched a Sony e-book system in North America and was vice president of marketing for Fox Interactive Media.
When his father developed Parkinson’s disease, Brauer moved back to Kansas.
“When he got sick, I started to run the farm—which is still going strong—and around then was when the initial idea for Greenfield Robotics was germinated,” Brauer said.
“When my dad passed away from Parkinson’s disease, I wanted to create a way to reduce reliance on chemicals in farming, and ultimately remove them altogether,” Brauer said.
In 2018, he launched Greenfield Robotics. “We aim to create regenerative, herbicide-free farming solutions through the use of autonomous robots, which are built right here in Kansas,” Brauer said.
These robots look like yellow metal boxes on wheels with a short antenna on the top. The chassis is approximately two feet wide and five feet long.
The robots are autonomous and leverage artificial intelligence in the forms of machine vision and learning. The chassis can attach to various types of attachments, such as blades for cutting weeds, and be programmed to go through a field cutting down weeds, for example.
With other modular attachments, these robots can be used to plant cover crops, add nutrients such as sea kelp to crops, and more.
In practice, the robots are deployed by the company, rather than purchased by the farmer. “We deploy the robots, retrieve them when the job is done and handle any potential maintenance,” Brauer said.
When used for cutting weeds on broadacre crops, the robots greatly reduce the need for herbicides.
“These robots are capable of navigating between rows of crops like soybeans, cotton and sorghum with less crop damage than a traditional spray rig,” Brauer said. “They cut down weeds close to the ground, with spinning blades attached to the front of each robot, and are capable of running day and night.”
Each robot can weed one-half to one acre in an hour. The robots are deployed as a fleet.
“The primary benefit of our technology is that it allows farmers to greatly reduce their reliance on herbicides, which has positive implications for both human health and the environment,” Brauer said.
This cutting-edge technology has caught the eyes of others. “These wins helped us get financial backing from major players in the industry, including Chipotle, MKC—a major grain co-op with 11,000 farmers as members—and ILS, one of the nation’s largest beef producers,” Brauer said.
More advances are ahead. Greenfield Robotics is working with Rock River Laboratories to conduct field trials where the sensors on the robots will detect nutrient deficiencies in crops and provide actionable data to the producer.
“We hope this can revolutionize crop nutrient management,” Brauer said. “We continue to develop new services to help write a new chapter in agriculture.”
How remarkable to find this high-tech company in Cheney, population 2,181 people. Now, that’s rural. — K-State Research and Extension
