A robot dog is being used in greenhouses in Shouguang, China, to help farmers monitor crops and identify potential plant diseases before they become visible to the human eye.
The four-legged robot moves through greenhouse aisles while cameras scan crop leaves for signs of disease and other problems. The system is designed to provide farmers with information that can support faster decisions about crop management.
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The technology is part of a broader push to automate greenhouse farming, where workers traditionally monitor temperature, humidity, lighting, irrigation and fertilisation manually.
When the robot detects an unusual condition, the information can be analysed and passed to other automated equipment. In Shouguang, specialised machines can then be used to apply treatments such as pesticides or fertiliser where needed. According to the technology's operators, this approach has helped reduce the use of agricultural chemicals by about 35 per cent.
Local agricultural officials said the use of precise environmental controls and automated systems has also contributed to higher production and improved efficiency in the high-tech greenhouse operations.
The development reflects how artificial intelligence, robotics and sensors are increasingly being combined with traditional farming. Rather than replacing farmers entirely, the systems are designed to give growers more detailed information about crop health and greenhouse conditions.
Robot dogs are also being tested for agricultural scouting outside greenhouses. In Canada, researchers have been examining quadruped robots as tools for collecting crop data and navigating between rows of plants.
As the technology develops, robotic systems could give farmers another way to identify crop problems earlier, reduce unnecessary chemical use and improve the precision of agricultural operations.
The use of robot dogs in farming is still an emerging application, but the experiments show how machines originally associated with industrial inspection and security are finding new roles in agriculture.