FarmDroid FD20

FarmDroid FD20 was developed with one specific aim; to manage weed control more effectively and sustainably, thereby using technology for the greater good of farmers and planet earth!

It is an innovative field robot that reduces the cost of drilling and weeding in an environmentally friendly way - it is energy independent, powered by solar panels and is CO2 neutral.  It uses high precision GPS seeding to pin point the position of each seed, making weeding possible both between rows as well as between plants in the row.

The automatic, lightweight, field robot automates sowing and weed removal without causing structural damage to the soil.  Headlands and wheelings are relegated to the past and no longer cause reduction in yields.

This revolution in weed management makes investing in a FarmDroid an attractive business case with a return on investment down to as little as two years.

The FarmDroid is now eligible for grant funding through your preferred route, either through the 'Improving Farm Productivity' grant, or the more recently launched 'Farming Equipment and Technology Fund 2024'.

Improving Farm Productivity Grant

Eligible item: FarmDroid

(Robotic or automatic equipment and systems to aid crop production) 

For equipment to be eligible, it has to be considered either robotic or automatic. We believe that the FarmDroid FD20 solar-powered seed and weed robot is eligible under this grant. This means that for:

• robotic: it has to perform all 4 of the following functions in a continuous loop by sensing, understanding, planning, and controlling without human intervention
• automatic: it has to perform at least 2 of the following functions:
  • sensing the environment in which it operates
  • understanding its environment from what it has sensed
  • planning what it needs to do from what it has understood
  • controlling the operation or process it has decided needs to be done (including controlling of actuators which may or may not be part of the eligible project costs)

Full details.

The online checker closed on the 21 March 2024. If you used the online checker and have been asked to make a full application (your project has scored highly enough), you will need the project number provided by the RPA in your invitation to apply for a full application email. Although you can find a host of information about the FarmDroid FD20 here on our website, if you would like to speak to your local FarmDroid dealer in relation to this grant, you can find your nearest by using our FarmDroid Dealer Finder. 

Farming Equipment and Technology Fund 2024

Eligible item: FarmDroid

(FETF218 - Robotic drill and guided hoe)

Item must:

• be a robotic drill and guided hoe
• precisely place seed in the ground
• mechanically weed between drilled rows
• mechanically weed between plants in rows 
• be able to drill and hoe
• be able to operate autonomously in the field without an operator (apart from refilling the seed hopper)

Percentage paid towards item: 60%

Percentage based on RPA expected average cost of item

Full details.

If you're interested in this machine, the first step is to apply for the eligible machine before the 17th April. Secondly, once you have your application approved, and you’ve accepted your offer, the next step is to purchase the item/machine.

If your application for the above machine is successful, then speak to your local FarmDroid dealer in good time, to ensure timely delivery before the end of the claim window which is midday on the 10th January, 2025. Find your local FarmDroid dealer here.

The sun is the main source of life on earth, and the only source of energy for the FarmDroid, making it energy independent.  The FarmDroid does not require external charging.

The four solar panels deliver up to 1.6kWh, equivalent to 20 kWh per day and power the batteries for the electrical motors.  They generate enough power for 18-24 hours of daily operation, depending on weather and working conditions.

The drive train consists of two electric motors, one for each back wheel, producing a total of 800w.  This drives the FD20 up to 950m per hour and makes it capable of seeding or weeding up to 6ha (approx. 15 acres) per day.

There are no emissions, meaning a FarmDroid operates in a completely CO2-neutral way.

FarmDroid FD20 knows the position of every single plant.  The robot places each seed in a perfect pattern and knows where each seed is located.  This is all made possible through the use of high-precision GPS technology.  The FarmDroid FD20 takes care of sowing and subsequent weeding without need of monitoring.

Row distance, plant distance, sowing depth, speed, and tolerances can all be adjusted to fit various crops, various types of soil, and the farmer’s individual wishes. FarmDroid FD20 automatically stops and notifies the farmer if anything deviates from the settings.

FD20 is developed to be able to handle various crops, and therefore you can use the same machine for e.g. sugar beets and onions. So far, we have experience with sugar beets, onions, spinach, kale, flower seeds, and rapeseed, and more crops are added continuously. Contact FarmDroid to hear more about the possibilities and if you have a crop that you consider using an FD20 for.

FarmDroid FD20 performs fully automatic sowing and weeding of crops – both between rows and in the row itself. From the sowing process, FD20 knows the position of every seed and therefore knows where it subsequently must clean – and just as importantly: where not to clean. It operates fully automatically and does not need monitoring. FarmDroid FD20 stops by itself and sends an email to the farmer in case of any stops or deviations, and this ensures the farmer that the work is done correctly.

Set up of the robot is simple:

1. At setup, the field’s corner points are marked. Any possible obstacles such as trees, power poles etc. are also marked.
2. Choose the desired number of headlands.
3. Choose sowing distance (distance between the crops in the row) and set the sowing depth.
4. Press ”START”.

Areas for ecological agriculture rise year by year and simultaneously the focus on reducing pesticides in conventional farming increases. Therefore, there is a continuously increasing focus on and need for mechanical weed control in agriculture.

FarmDroid FD20 is developed with a focus on automatizing mechanical weed control between the rows and in the row itself. This is, in ecological agriculture, most often done through tiring and costly manual labor. The labor costs per hectare are large, the work is exhausting, and a general lack of manual work force in agriculture makes it difficult for farmers to produce economically sustainable crops.

The seeding unit comprises a six-litre hopper, metering unit and double-disc coulter, designed to plant to up to 5cm depth into a fine tilth.

The seeding disc drops the seed into the coulter shoe and the seed valve opens, to drop it into the soil, at precisely the right moment so that the correct spacing for the desired plant population is achieved. This is pre-determined so that the FarmDroid knows where every seed is placed.

A seed light beam sensor in the unit sends an alert, should an alarm be triggered, to the FarmDroid app on the customer’s mobile phone/device.

Inter and intra-row weeding! Precise weeding both between the rows and within the rows between the crops ensures that the crops have optimal growth conditions without having to compete with weeds for nutrition and sunlight.

Organic growers across northern Europe – and in the UK – have seen some fairly dramatic results where they’re using the FarmDroid. They’re reporting increases in beet yields of 40-60% over tractor-hoed crops and are putting this down to the combination of precise seed placement and intra-row weed control making for uniform crop development.

Combined with the savings in herbicides, fuel, labour, and machinery costs (depreciation, maintenance, tyres, capital tie-up, etc…) – the financial argument for FarmDroid is a strong one, especially as the purchase price and ongoing running costs are a fraction of those associated with the traditional machinery used to do the job.

Since FarmDroid FD20 uses high-precision GPS technology it does not depend on cameras or sensors for recognizing plants and weeds.  Precision during sowing ensures that the robot knows the exact position of every individual crop and therefore it can start the weeding process at a very early stage – even before the crop starts germinating! The process of blind weeding means that weeds do not compete with the crop from the get go.

Weighing just 800kg, FarmDroid has the lightest footprint possible - good for soil health and the bottom line - headlands aren’t run down with the result that yields are maintained across the entire cropped area.

FarmDroid FD20 helps eliminating or highly reducing the need for tiring and time-consuming manual weeding.  

With in-row and inter-row action it eliminates weeds both between the rows and between the crop plants. Capable of working right to up within 5mm of each seedling between the rows and 20mm in the row, the FarmDroid’s shares mean it does the complete job so there is no need for hand-rogueing of problem weeds like fan-hen (saving c.£250/ha).

*More crops will be added on a continuous basis

With pairs of wheels running in the same tracks front and rear, the 4 wheel unit can effectively straddle the rows of crop, enabling it to plant seed into flat beds and return subsequently to weed between the seedlings without running any crop down.