Goldacres has announced a partnership with tech-company Bilberry, which will see weed-sensing cameras on Goldacres sprayers
Goldacres has announced a partnership with tech-company Bilberry, which will see their products fitted with weed-sensing camera systems.
Bilberry, a French startup founded in 2015, will supply the weed-sensing camera system and Goldacres will work with them to develop the necessary architecture to integrate it with their sprayer rate controller.
The partnership comes just weeks after the Aussie-manufacturer unveiled its very own tractor, the Atrac.
You can read all about the Goldacres/Atrac tractor range here
A factory-fitted option, this new weed-sensing camera system will propel Goldacres to the next frontier of spraying technology.
Goldacres says the Bilberry’s artificial intelligence (AI) camera platform is “fundamentally different” to other sensors available. “It uses high-speed, high-definition cameras and deep learning AI logic to determine what is a weed and what is not,” Goldacres says in its media release.
The Bilberry system will initially be restricted to green-on-brown conditions, with the hope that local testing will progress to green-on-green in-crop weed recognition capabilities.
“With this technology the possibilities are endless,” Goldacres says. “Basically, if you can see the weed in the crop, for example, ryegrass in canola, then the camera can detect it.”
According to Goldacres, farmers could potentially see up to 80 per cent savings in chemicals. The new technology will be available on booms up to 48m wide.
It is also possible to also blanket spray a normal mix rate with sprayers equipped with the Bilberry system.
Bilberry, which has an Australian office, also helped develop camera systems for Dutch manufacturer Agrifac.
Goldacres’ range of sprayers is manufactured here in Australia.