Who will cultivate the fields? Who will till the land? At the Nanjing Agricultural University Nanfan Smart Farm Demonstration Base (hereinafter referred to as the Base) located in Yazhou District, Sanya City, the answer is intelligent robots.
On November 23, in a plot of farmland at the Base, technicians pressed the start button, and with a sputtering sound, an unmanned tiller quickly and systematically performed rotary tillage, achieving centimeter-level precision. In another paddy field at the Base, a rice transplanter fully loaded with rice seedlings was ready to go. Technicians pressed the start button, and the transplanter moved forward, neatly inserting rows of seedlings into the field.
"Traditional rice transplanters require two operators, one to drive and one to plant the seedlings. However, the intelligent unmanned rice transplanter, based on a pre-set route using fixed-point information, allows one person to operate it from outside the field, completing all the work quickly and accurately, planting at least 7 mu (approximately 1.15 acres) of rice per hour," revealed Zhang Xiaohu, associate professor at the College of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University. He added that Hainan's rice planting density is high, and three rice seasons a year require a large amount of manpower. Intelligent agricultural machinery saves manpower and increases all-weather operation capabilities. Farmers have helpers for planting and managing their fields.
Next to each plot of land at the base, a QR code allows a reporter to instantly access a "field information file," providing clear information on fertility, soil moisture, and pest infestations. "The digital farmland technology of the smart rice cultivation cloud platform enables intelligent management of each plot with 'one policy per plot' and 'one price per plot,' displaying real-time applications in digital farmland IoT monitoring, growth diagnosis, prescription generation, and yield prediction," said Zhu Yan, Vice President of Nanjing Agricultural University.
In a lush green rice paddy at the base, a rice condition inspection robot moves back and forth. Equipped with multiple sensors including multispectral, depth cameras, lidar, and visible light sensors, and combined with an edge-cloud collaborative management system, it autonomously acquires and analyzes farmland information at multiple scales and angles in real time. Like a sentinel in the field, it intelligently inspects the field under all weather conditions, accurately sensing the field environment and crop growth, providing support for standardized prescriptions of seeds, fertilizers, water, and pesticides throughout the entire agricultural process. Meanwhile, above another rice paddy, a smart agricultural drone took off, spraying pesticides along a pre-designed route. "Based on precise 'agricultural prescriptions,' the drone automatically adjusts its altitude according to the ground's contours, resulting in high-level atomization of pesticides and fertilizers, ensuring precise and even spraying. It can apply fertilizer and pesticides to at least 200 mu (approximately 33 acres) per hour," said Zhang Xiaohu.
Today, this easy and efficient agricultural production is backed by powerful smart rice cultivation technology. "Smart rice cultivation technology applies BeiDou navigation, modern agronomy, information technology, and agricultural engineering to the entire process of rice production and management. It centers on digital paddy field technology, remote sensing monitoring of rice conditions, intelligent decision-making technology for seed, fertilizer, water, and pesticide application, precise operation technology for cultivation, management, and harvesting, and a smart rice management platform. Its goals are digital management of farmland information, three-dimensional monitoring of growth indicators, quantitative design of cultivation prescriptions, and precise operation of farmland management. It establishes a modern agricultural production management method with 'real-time perception, quantitative decision-making, intelligent control, precise input, and intelligent services' as its technological connotations, realizing the transformation of rice production operations from extensive to precise, and from manned to unmanned," said Ding Yanfeng, Vice President of Nanjing Agricultural University.
