Do the robots dream of farmers? Future perspective of the algorithmization and automation of farming practices

Do the robots dream of farmers?
Perspective on the algorithmization and automation of farming practices
Davide RIZZO – UniLaSalle, France
27 September 2021
Pondering Beyond
a seminar series for building epidemiological surveillance and plant disease prevention with observations both
near & distant
@dav_rizzo #AgAutomation #FollowTheRobot 1

Pondering BEYOND seminars
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Do the robots dream of
farmers?
Future perspective on the algorithmization and automation
of farming practices
Davide RIZZO – UniLaSalle, France
@interact_lab @unilasalle_fr

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
1. Inspiring thoughts
2. Concepts & definitions
3. Examples
4. Perspectives
A presentation in 4 parts
3
#AgAutomation #FollowTheRobot

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Who am I?
4
A short introduction -- https://daviderizzo.org
One of many: a subject or an algorithm?
Landscape agronomist and data scientist
Focus decision-making systems and
supports at the institutional (i.e., sociological
and organizational) levels
More about this talk: https://daviderizzophd.wordpress.com/2021/07/19/agricultural-robots-
future-farming-data-scouting/

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Inspiring thoughts
5

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
6
"You mean old books?"
"Stories written before space
travel but about space travel."
"How could there have been
stories about space travel
before - "
Pris to Isidore about pre-colonial fiction
Dick, Philip K. 1968. Do Androids Dream of Electric
Sheep? New York: Doubleday.
Are the
possibilities of
agricultural
automation
today part of
yesterday’s
science fiction?

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Do androids dream of electric sheep?
7
CC-BY
2.0
Christo
Drummkopf,
2005
https://flic.kr/p/6NDsWd
Science-fiction novel by Philip K.
Dick (1966). In this world devastated
by a cataclysm, the mere possession
of a living animal has become a sign
of wealth and empathy.
Androids are living without being
alive. As such, they question the
fundamentals of being human;

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo #AgAutomation #FollowTheRobot
Ever since I got here from Mars my
life has consisted of imitating the
human, doing what she would do, acting
as if I had the thoughts and impulses
a human would have. Imitating, as far
as I’m concerned, a superior life
form.
One of the andy met by agent Deckard
8

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
« She » is Wilma
The artificial intelligence « bunch » of algorithm
9
https://www.smallrobotcompany.com/

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Wilma governs three actuators
10
DICK per plant
management
HARRY is for seeding
TOM data scouting
WILMA
Fed by TOM to pilot DICK & HARRY
https://www.smallrobotcompany.com/

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
This farmer wants more time to dream
11
Sources : http://bit.ly/2wi9lJw http://bit.ly/2Leqh9k
BEIJING, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Ning Fengfeng only
sleeps around five hours a day during this year's
wheat harvest season. […] His 148-horsepower
tractor can reap one hectare of wheat in less than
two hours. […]
Ning said he watched a video a few days ago
featuring a self-driving harvester.
"People only need to press some
buttons and all the work will be
done. It is very much like a
science fiction movie," he said.
"I plan to buy one next year and
then I can have a good sleep."

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Concepts & definitions
12

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
What is a robot?
13
The scientific concept of
robot implies
■ a machine capable to
execute a physical task
AND at least:
■ being versatile
(capable to execute
different tasks)
AND/OR
■ auto-adaptive to the
working environment
COIFFET P (2007) Robots industriels: concepts,
définitions et classifications. Ed. Techniques Ingénieur

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Automation: what is about?
14
5 Full Driving
Automation
0 No Driving
Automation 1 Driver
Assistance
2 Partial Driving
Automation 3 Conditional
Driving Automation
4 High Driving
Automation
SAE. (2018). SAE International Releases Updated Visual Chart for Its “Levels of Driving Automation” Standard for Self-Driving Vehicles. SAE International. https://www.sae.org/news/press-room/2018/12/sae-international-releases-
updated-visual-chart-for-its-%E2%80%9Clevels-of-driving-automation%E2%80%9D-standard-for-self-driving-vehicles || Berducat, M. (2017). Robotique Agricole : Des opportunités mais de nombreux challenges à relever. Robotisation en
agriculture : états des lieux et évolution, Académie d’Agriculture de France. https://www.academie-agriculture.fr/actualites/academie/seance/academie/robotisation-en-agriculture-etats-des-lieux-et-evolution
AgRobotics is at level 3
Conditional Automation
Monitoring: The driver does not have to
constantly monitor the system
Limitations: The system recognizes the
limit of its performance, however it is not
able to bring the system to a state of
minimum risk on its own for all situations.

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
AgRobotics: three missions
15
The machines fulfilling the scientific robot definition can be classified in:
Assistant robots
collaborating with humans
to realize a physical task
Decision robots
that support human
decision-making
Substitution robots
that replace humans to
realizate a physical task
Ladybird by the University of Sydney
http://bit.ly/2MVfHpy
Effibot, CC-BY-SA-4.0 Scailyna, 2016
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inn
orobo_2015_-_Effidence_-_Effi-bot_02.jpg
DINO weeding robot by Naïo Technologies,
CC-BY 4.0 D. Rizzo, 2017

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Inconscious idea of robot
16
COIFFET P (2007) Robots industriels:
concepts, définitions et classifications.
Ed. Techniques Ingénieur
A scene from “Rossum's Universal Robots“ by Čapek
that first popularized the term “robot”
A concept originated in the
sci-fi literature upon a
real artificial human,
characterized mainly by a
human-like intelligence
including will and
conscience.
The scientific concept
explores instead
machines to assist
humans for the execution
of physical tasks either by
cooperation or substitution
Čapek utilisa le mot robot pour la
première fois (1920) dans “Rossum's
Universal Robots”. || R. U. R.,
Wikipédia CC-BY-SA 3.0,
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._U._R.
Image:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.U.R.#/m
edia/File:Capek_RUR.jpg

Davide RIZZO 2021
Evidently; that's why they
occasionally kill their employers
and flee here. A better life,
without servitude.
Agent Deckard’s inner thoughts
17

Davide RIZZO 2021
| A very busy farmer Jean-Marc Côté, 1900
1900’s postcard from a
series of futuristic
pictures by Jean-Marc
Côté came to light after
Isaac Asimov (1986) in
“Futuredays: A
Nineteenth Century
Vision of the Year
2000”.
https://publicdomainr
eview.org/collections/f
rance-in-the-year-
2000-1899-1910/
18

Davide RIZZO 2021
©
Nesta
CC
BY-NC-SA
https://www.nesta.org.uk/sites/default/files/future_farms_infographic_precision_agriculture.jpg
19

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Data collection is crucial
20
Faster and greater collection for faster and better algorithm training
data collection
• intensified through the wealth of embedded sensors on every
type of recent equipment
• dramatic increase in resolution of airborne sensors
• steady development of the internet of things
➔ new cyber-physic frontiers ready for edge computing
data use
Training machine learning algorithms, eventually being capable
to characterize and reproduce practices that were once in the
only realm of physical practical experience of farmers.
 SentiV by Meropy, a rover for data scouting. InnovAgri 2021 CC BY D. Rizzo

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Automation feeds algorithms
Animal breeding has ~20 years of experience
Moving from milking (stable) robots to systems of connected objects (also known as the
"Internet of Things" or IoT) and massive data mining to power augmented reality
handless devices
Cf. https://www.nedap-livestockmanagement.com/ et https://youtu.be/rMH8afQs0mY
21

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Creating a cyber-physical interface
22
Rizzo, Davide; Dantan, Jérôme (2018):
1st AgriLab Bootcamp common
workflow of farmers' projects. figshare.
Figure.
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.61
93058.v1

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Towards the « edge computing »
Connected things can process context-wise collected data
23
The constant miniaturization of processors
makes real-time processing possible.
(Simple) tasks can thus be handled
directly by and between connected
objects.
This creates a distributed processing
system and a new cyber-physical
frontier.

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Data are a tsunami
Data without structure are just noise and distraction
This building, except for my apartment, is
completely kipple-ized."
"Kipple-ized'?" She did not comprehend.
"Kipple is useless objects, like junk mail or
match folders after you use the last match or gum
wrappers or yesterday's homeopape. When nobody's
around, kipple reproduces itself.
Isidore explaining “kipple” to the girl
24

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
How will automation innovate?
25
Can algorithms replace farming decision-making?
Data are expected to ease decision-making about
farming operations. It is easy to prospect to use them
directly to pilot autonomous equipment, either
unmanned or still sporting a cabin to carry a human
operator.
Will these data-driven automata be able to make
mistakes to learn, as humans do?
To rephrase the well-known Philip Dick’s novel, will
automatic data-driven agriculture still dream of
farmers, in a future where they might become rare?
© PETROSS, TERRA-MEPP & WEST, CC-BY https://flic.kr/p/XavvBA

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
26
"I think you're right; it would
seem we lack a specific talent
you humans possess. I believe
it's called empathy."
An andy arguing with a bounty hunter
© Davide Rizzo, 2018 CC BY-NC-SA

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
It’s a question of trust (and data litteracy)
27
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/commissioners/2014-
2019/vestager/announcements/clearing-path-innovation_en
https://goo.gl/images/v31SZD
Margrethe Vestager,
Former European Commissioner for Competition
Web Summit, Lisbon, 7 November 2017
« … more and more, we’re being asked
to put our trust not just in other people,
but in computers and algorithms.
Algorithms most of us don't fully
understand. … The biggest challenge
to the future of innovation … it's whether
that new technology can succeed in
winning the public’s trust. »

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Examples
28

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
What will agriculture (farmers’ job) be like in a century?
29
A major trend across all of these facts is data scouting.
Forecasting can be pursued by exaggerating present trends, so as to explore
(and warn about) what might happen if present tendencies continue.
• robots can mine 24h a day,
• GRAIN Producers Australia (GPA) has started talks with the Western
Australia Government to seek formal endorsement and adoption of a new
Code of Practice (COP) that will help drive the future use of autonomous
farm vehicles and machinery on farms throughout Australia.
• knowing how to operate an iPhone is probably enough to manage
a robotic dairy farm,
• farmers sell their products via Douyin live streams for millions of yuan in a
few minutes

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
An agronomic typology of robots
30
Dedicated tools
e.g., FD20 by Farmdroid
Weigth distribution
e.g., AgBot by AgXeed
Easier
steering

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Some examples seen from an agronomist
Robot market state of art, example for a cereal-like cropping system: lines represent individual robots, and dots
identify the task(s) addressed by each robot.
31
Rizzo, Davide, Thomas Chartier, and Arthur Sarazin. 2021. ‘Field Crop Robotics:
Bibliometric Overview and Agronomic State-of-the-Art’. P. 2 in Evoluzione dei
sistemi agronomici in risposta alle sfide globali. Udine: SIA - Società Italiana di
Agronomia.

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
To learn more
32
Lenain, R., Peyrache, J., Savary, A., & Séverac, G.
(2021). Agricultural robotics: Part of the new deal? FIRA
2020 conclusions - With 27 agricultural robot information
sheets. Quae.
https://www.quae.com/product/1711/9782759233830/agric
ultural-robotics-part-of-the-new-deal-fira-2020-conclusions
https://www.robagri.fr/
https://www.fira-agtech.com/

Davide RIZZO 2021
33
Lenain, R., Tricot, N., & Berducat, M. (2019). Agricultural robotics: the development of new tools for agro-ecology. Ingénieries, 29, 64–67. https://doi.org/10.14758/SET-REVUE.2019.3.14

Davide RIZZO 2021
Small
Petites
surfaces,
essaims
Medium
Poids +/- 2t
Big
Robotization du
tracteur + TIM*
Fonte:
adattato
da
presentazione
RobAgri,
Lebars
2018
* TIM Tractor Implement
Management – gestion du
tracteur par l’outil
34

Davide RIZZO 2021
shortly found himself standing by his
hovercar, rather dazed, as employees of
the animal dealer loaded the crate of
goat into the car. I own an animal now,
he said to himself. A living animal,
not electric.
Deckard wondering his last purchase
35

Davide RIZZO 2021
36

Davide RIZZO 2021
the fakes are beginning to be darn near
real, what with those disease circuits
they're building into the new ones. And
living animals do die; that's one of the
risks in owning them. We're just not used
to it because all we see are fakes.
Isidore reflecting about fake animals
37

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Challenge Centeol /1
38
50 ha of corn grown almost entirely with robots
Real-size agronomic test
0,24 bar 0,23 bar
1,1 bar
0,8 bar
Evolution in the last 80 years Future??
Fonte:
adattato
da
presentazione
RobAgri,
Lebars
2018

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Challenge Centeol /2
39
The 5 automatized operations
Fonte:
adattato
da
presentazione
RobAgri,
Lebars
2018
Tillage
Seeding Crop
protection
Hoeing
(weeding)
Fertilization
FIRA 2018: https://youtu.be/hTfh7ouAu9E

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Perspectives
40

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Putting things into perspective
Changes are faster than what we could perceive
Pistono, F. (2019, April 12). The Driverless Economy. Why robocars will be a bigger deal than you probably imagine. Medium. https://medium.com/@FedericoPistono/the-driverless-economy-7d8673b9142
1917 The Brown Brothers (attribuée), The last
of the Horse Drawn Carriages, Brodway
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_l
ast_of_the_Horse_Drawn_Carriages.JPG
2014, AP, Google Self-
Driving Car,
https://flic.kr/p/p1FYTd
Less than 100 yrs
Banksy,
Brodway
Haidan,
2019.
https://unsplash.com/photos/XcKeOMDXM5U
Rizzo
D,
2019.
robot
tondeuse,
Suisse
Security issues,
energy
inefficiency,
costs
Higher security,
energy
efficiency,
modularity
41

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
General perspectives about AgAutomation
Robots are rapidly improving
Technologies are available
From task automation to operation
automation
Difficulties: working with living things
and extrapolating models from one
culture to another
42
AgBot by AgXeed, autonomous implement carrier,. InnovAgri 2021 CC BY D. Rizzo
Lack of legal framework and
references for insurance
Change of scale: from gigantism to
the fleet of machines

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Outlook for ag robots (2035)
A RAPID EVOLUTION OF AG-EQUIPMENT IS EXPECTED
Source: AXEMA 2018, Economic report 2017,
based on Tractica report estimation
Available at http://www.axema.fr/AProposAxema/Documents/RE%202017_EN_25-05-2018_BD.PDF
agroequipment
robot
Expected sales (Mln $)
Self-driven tractors
Agricultural drones
Equipment management
Fertilisation, crop and
forest protection
Tillage, seeding, plantation
Animal management
Dairy management
43

Davide RIZZO 2021
He thought, too, about his need for a real
animal; within him an actual hatred once more
manifested itself toward his electric sheep,
which he had to tend, had to care about, as if
it lived. The tyranny of an object, he thought.
It doesn't know I exist. Like the androids, it
had no ability to appreciate the existence of
another.
Agent Deckard’s inner thoughts
44

Davide RIZZO 2021
«Do I think todays’
farmers need a robot?
I think today’s robots
need a farmer!»
Identifying landmarks in the
high pace robot landscape
will enhance the agronomic
evaluation and enable a
clearer understanding of
robot relevance for
farmers.
Rod Karter
Cattle farmer, Australia February 2018
ABC Catalyst 2018, Farmer Needs A Robot
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4792106.htm
https://youtu.be/oxpZ1c7TsPI
45

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Soil centrality is the turning point
46
Soil-centered devices vs Soil-less for bioregenerative life support systems

Davide RIZZO 2021
Carscoops. (n.d.). Kubota
X Tractor Is An Electric AI
Robot Tractor From The
Future. Retrieved June
24, 2021, from
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=hB2cTDPFuew
&t=2s
47

Davide RIZZO 2021
… ???
birchpunk. (2020). Russian cyberpunk farm // русская
кибердеревня.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HZ4DnVfWYQ
birchpunk. (2021). Birchpunk Special—Ai-Vanich in the
Russian Cyberfarm // Аи-Ваныч В Кибердеревне.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCH2PTj93fs&t=7s
48
https://www.youtube.com/c/birchpunk

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Thank you for your attention! @dav_rizzo
davide.rizzo@unilasalle.fr
49

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
Questions and answers (27 Sept 2021)
50
[1] About the tyranny of objects (slide 44): is
ag robotics under the push of agroecology?
The heterogeneity and modularity of automatic
systems (robotics and IoT) enable a radically
new way of interacting with the environment,
with the possibility to address heterogeneity
from the landscape to the field level, up to the
gene when plant breeders exploit data scouting
devices to re-design plant architecture
[2] How to inspire farmers to share data?
Data are like happiness: is real (and valuable)
only when shared. The best is to making
farmers (and citizens) aware of the value
inherent in shared data, instead of insisting on
data ownership and protection (that are a
relevant but limited issues)
[3] Obsolescence of technologies is it a
limit to technology uptake by farmers?
Naïo Technologies – a major actor of ag
robotics – was born in a FabLab. Together
with makerspaces, these innovation
environments and the likes are increasing
the mastery of technology and improving
the mastery of their maintenance.
However, we still need simplification
[4] Are actuators a limit to current ag
robotics development?
Mobile autonomous platforms are « easy »
to be conceived by experts. However, the
actuators imply agronomic knowledge, so
highlighting the need for dedicated training
and the emergence of new professional
profiles
[5] Are we going to simplification for
instance in detection of diseases?
Simplification is the result of
clarification, which happens by
selecting among the multiple
technological solutions emerging in the
early stages of development.

Davide RIZZO 2021
@dav_rizzo
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doing anything the
license permits.
Suggested citation: Rizzo D. (2021) Do the robots dream of farmers? In
Perspective on the algorithmization and automation of farming practices [Cindy
Morris, Ed.] Pondering BEYOND, online seminars.
Copyright: © 2021 Rizzo D. This is an open access document distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License Attribution-ShareAlike
4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). This license permits free use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and sources are
credited. Any derivate must keep the same license as the original.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ This license is acceptable
for Free Cultural Works.
Source Availability Statement: the webpages and the other data mentioned in
the presentation are accessible at the link indicated in each slide. Original
images were archived on online free repositories.
51

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