A grant of £ 6.4 million has been allocated for the creation of the world's first agro-robotics center, Lincoln University.
Research will focus on creating autonomous agricultural robots that can efficiently process, harvest and control the quality of valuable crops with minimal human intervention.
Lincoln Agri-Robotics, a large new research center of excellence set up at the University of Lincoln farm to combine artificial intelligence with agriculture and food production, will expand two of its specialized research groups: the Lincoln Institute for Food and Agriculture Technology (LIAT) and the Lincoln Center for Autonomous Systems (LCAS).
Professor Andrew Hunterras, University of Lincoln’s Deputy Chancellor for Research and Innovation, said: “It is widely believed that robotics will transform the food and agricultural industries in the coming years as manufacturers adapt to meet significantly increased global demand, but more research remains to be done.”
The research center will be one of 13 government-supported projects.
