Autonomous Large-Scale Mowingand Agricultural Weeding<br
/>Intelligence<br />GPS<br />Laser<br />

Need to decide between mowing
and weeding<br />Used framework from class #3 and 12 tips for customer interviews<br />

Weeding – 6 interviews<br />Bolthouse
Farms, Large Agri-Industry in Bakersfield<br />Rincon Farms, large grower in Salinas Valley<br />REFCO Farms, large grower in Salinas Valley<br />White Farms, Large Peanut farmer in Georgia<br />2 Small organic farmers at farmers market<br />

Found weeding in organic crops
is HUGE problem; 50 - 75% of costs<br />Crews of 100s-1000<br />Back-breaking task<br />(Ilegal) labor harder to get <br />1-5 weedings per year/field<br />$250-3,500 per acre and increasing<br />Food contamination risk<br />

Organic Weeding Value proposition<br />Labor
costs are significant YES!; $250-3,500/ac each year; Weeding is 75% of cost of producing the crop!<br />Traditional weed solutions can’t be used in Organic Duh!<br />Only solution today is manual labor Crews of 100s-1000 are issue <br />Market is very large 2.6 M organic acres in US. TAM $2.5B, Initial target market is $150M (veggies & specialty), size doubling every 4 yrs.<br />Combination of Autonomous vehicles and video weed recognition would solve problem Problem is plant vs. weed recognition. No real need for autonomous vehicle, but real need for a solution<br />

Mowing – 6 interviews<br />Stanford
Grounds<br />Supervisor <br />Maintenance <br />Lead operator (has crew of 6)<br />Stanford Golf curse <br />Toro (large mower manufacturer) dealer <br />User of back-yard mowing system<br />More lined-up for later in the week<br />

Labor is large part of
ground maintenance <br />Three segments:<br />Golf courses <br />Stadiums <br />Parks <br />Each has 2-3 sub types (eg greens, fairways, rough in golf) uses different machines, <br />

Weeding Value proposition<br />Are Labor
costs are significant? For 100 acres in Stanford, crew of 6, $43 - $63/hr<br />Work in progress…<br />

Decision to make – mowing
vs weeding<br />