Artificial intelligence trained to detect the weed Setaria viridis growing among crops

The research company Rothamsted in partnership with Bosch, Chafer Machinery, and Xarvio exchanged specialized knowledge to create an innovative approach to combating the weed blackgrass (Alopecurus myosuroides), also known as black grass. As AgroPages reports, using artificial intelligence, cameras on the sprayer boom can detect black grass at various stages of weed growth. The system then ensures the correct amount of herbicide is sprayed on that area of the field. The new approach is expected to reduce costs by spraying smaller areas of the field and lead to a decrease in the prevalence of the weed, which is very common and pernicious in European countries and most notably in the United Kingdom. (In Ukraine, it grows in the Steppe Crimea and is considered an invasive plant in some areas of the Forest-Steppe, — ed.). The research company Rothamsted Research helped train Bosch cameras to detect black grass by photographing both crops and weeds from a fixed height at various stages ...