Solinftec unveils new Solix Sprayer robot
Ag-tech company Solinftec has announced that it is expanding its Solix Ag Robotics offerings.
In addition to its Solix Scouting robot, the company has unveiled its Solix Sprayer robot designed to detect and spray weeds, according to a news release.
In partnership with McKinney Corp., which will produce and manufacture the Solix spray robot, the new technology is slated to become commercially available in 2023, according to the release.
“Solinftec’s partnership with McKinney Corp. will positively impact our ability to market and deliver Solix Ag Robotics by consolidating Solix's scalability and accelerating service to the North American markets,” Leonardo Carvalho, Solinftec’s director of operations, said in the release. “It also supports Solinftec's goal of making this technology available globally.”
Solinftec has designed its scouting and sprayer robots to help producers reduce their chemical inputs and deliver a lower carbon footprint and environmental impact, according to the company.
The new Solix Sprayer robot will provide autonomous and sustainable spot-spray applications on growers' fields, according to the release.
Similar to the Solix Scouting robot, the spray robot is powered by four solar panels that control the drive system and the spray system while providing reports on crop populations, weed identification and densities, disease identification and thresholds, insect identification and thresholds, nutrient deficiency identification and densities, and other data points, according to the release.
The Solix spray robot will provide weed spot-spray maps with analysis on inputs saved and can service up to 96 acres per day depending on the field shape and terrain, according to the company.
A Brazil-founded company with its U.S. offices in Indiana, Solinftec is changing how farmers run their business with its solutions, generating up to 70% efficiency improvements by turning data into action, according to the release.
With more than 15 years of experience developing digital ag solutions throughout various geographies and crops around the world, the Solix Ag Robotics, connected and integrated with Solinftec’s innovative ALICE AI platform, works together to orchestrate machine operations and calculates producers’ ultimate needs and objectives, and delivers real-time actionable recommendations and actions in a more eco-friendly way, the company said.
Solinftec focuses on really solving structural problems in agricultural management and offers solutions that truly promote low-impact agriculture, and not only measure or certify the footprint, but offers a real solution to reduce your impact,” Carvalho said in the release. “Weed detection is a leading issue in fields across North America, and the Solix Sprayer is designed to not only monitor and scan fields like the original scouting version, but detect and manage weeds with technology. [This] allows the device to spot-spray into the plant instead of from above, eliminating drift and social compaction caused by larger machines and [helping to] lower environmental impact.”
Pilots for the Solix models are currently running in North America in partnership with the ag cooperative GROWMARK, Purdue University in the U.S., and Stone Farms and University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, according to the release.
In Brazil, the Solix Scouting robot has been manufactured and produced by cutting-edge electronics manufacturing service company Hi-Mix Eletrônicos, and has been commercially available since last April, the company said.
