Tarzan the Robot

Tarzan the Robot. © Georgia Institute of Technology.

Some farmers already use drones to monitor their crops, but a team of researchers from Georgia Tech have created a far more interesting alternative. Instead of designing yet another drone, they created a robot inspired by the sloth. “Tarzan” will be able to swing over crops using claws and parallel guy-wires stretched over fields. It will then take measurements with built-in probes as well as pictures of each plant with its built-in camera. Team leader and Georgia Institute of Technology professor Jonathan Rogers said they're trying to design Tarzan to become very energy efficient, just like real sloths, in view of creating solar-powered versions one day. This summer, Tarzan is going to a soybean field in Athens, Georgia to take photos for another team of scientists studying different varieties of the plant.

⇨ Engadget, “Tarzan the swinging robot could be the future of farming.”