2024 - Volume #48, Issue #1, Page #11
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Precision Sprayer Comes To North America
The ARA is 18 ft. wide, with three separate 6-ft. “boxes.” The outer two boxes fold hydraulically for road transport. The underside of the compartments contains 156 nozzles, which can be adjusted in height from 6 to 22 in. Solenoid valves open and close the nozzles almost instantaneously, acting on signals from high-resolution cameras focused on the plants.
Plant-by-plant software is equipped with several algorithms for various spraying methods and crops. Treatment types like volunteer potatoes in sugar beet fields can be selected from in-cab tablets, including the safety zone around the crop.
“As the ARA is towed in the sugar beet field, the camera system is rapidly collecting images,” says Abbey Flury, Press and Content Manager. “It’s detecting the volunteer potatoes and sending the information extremely quickly to the UHP spray bar, which sprays at a precision of 2.4 by 2.4 in. on designated spots. This entire process happens in under 250 milliseconds.”
The ARA can spray up to 10 acres per hour traveling at 4.7 mph., even at night. It provides several different treatment methods, including herbicides, pesticides, growth treatments, and liquid fertilizers.
Flury says established ARA European trials show a reduction in chemical use over conventional sprayers of up to 95 percent.
“Our biggest advantage over our competitors is our spray footprint of 2.4 by 2.4 in.,” Flury says. “It’s the most precise sprayer on the market, and combined with chemical reductions, farmers can save a lot of money.”
Ecorobotix has recently begun selling the ARA to vegetable farmers in Canada and has placed a few machines in California.
All smart sprayers and software technologies are designed and manufactured in Switzerland.
Flury says it’s less expensive than other smart systems on the market today.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ecorobotix SA, Y-Parc, Rue Galilee 6, 1400 Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland (ph +41 24 524 41 23; sales.northamerica@ecorobotix.com; www.ecorobotix.com).
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