Precise robotic weed control plays an essential role in precision agriculture. It can help significantly reduce the environmental impact of herbicides while reducing weed management costs for farmers. In this paper, we demonstrate that a custom-designed robotic spot spraying tool based on computer vision and deep learning can significantly reduce herbicide usage on sugarcane farms. We present results from field trials that compare robotic spot spraying against industry-standard broadcast spraying, by measuring the weed control efficacy, the reduction in herbicide usage, and the water quality improvements in irrigation runoff. The average results across 25 hectares of field trials show that spot spraying on sugarcane farms is 97% as effective as broadcast spraying and reduces herbicide usage by 35%, proportionally to the weed density. For specific trial strips with lower weed pressure, spot spraying reduced herbicide usage by up to 65%. Water quality measurements of irrigation-induced runoff, three to six days after spraying, showed reductions in the mean concentration and mean load of herbicides of 39% and 54%, respectively, compared to broadcast spraying. These promising results reveal the capability of spot spraying technology to reduce herbicide usage on sugarcane farms without impacting weed control and potentially providing sustained water quality benefits.

翻译：精准机器人除草在精准农业中发挥着重要作用，它不仅能显著减少除草剂对环境的负面影响，还能降低农民的杂草管理成本。本文证明，基于计算机视觉和深度学习的定制化机器人定点喷洒工具，可显著减少甘蔗田的除草剂用量。我们通过田间试验对比了机器人定点喷洒与行业标准全面喷洒的效果，测量了杂草控制效能、除草剂用量减少情况以及灌溉径流中的水质改善程度。在25公顷田间试验中，平均结果显示：甘蔗田定点喷洒的效果达到全面喷洒的97%，同时除草剂用量减少35%（比例与杂草密度相关）。在杂草压力较低的特定试验分区中，定点喷洒的除草剂用量减少幅度高达65%。对喷洒后3至6天灌溉径流的水质测量表明，与全面喷洒相比，定点喷洒使除草剂平均浓度和平均负荷分别降低39%和54%。这些令人鼓舞的结果揭示了定点喷洒技术在甘蔗田中减少除草剂用量的能力——既不降低杂草控制效果，还可能带来持续的水质改善效益。