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Advances in agricultural technology now have led to the development of agricultural drones and robots. These evolutions are entirely transforming farming and heading up to smart agriculture. While farmers always face a lot of challenges like an aging workforce, lack of low-cost labor, climate change, among others, drones and robots have the potential to revolutionize their farming pattern at large.

Robots can assist farmers with some of their work, along with providing troves of data in planting, managing and harvesting better crops. Working with robotic machines these days is showing a glimpse at agriculture that future is not far-flung as small robots or unmanned machinery guided by computer programs will perform some of the work with taking fewer times.

Even, much of agriculture already is being performed by using some form of technology such as sensors on tractors that appropriately measure planting and fertilizing rates, and thermal infrared cameras embedded with drones that spot water and bug stress on crops with flying above farm fields. Many software programs are also coming to the farm field that can predict crop yield, providing farmers the data they need to plan for harvest.

For instance, American Robotics is a company developing agricultural drones that can spray pesticides in defined areas to keep away insects from crops. A large number of companies also are on the way to build fleets of drones that can automatically be liable to farmland, returning to Homebase to recharge then flying off again in formation, and keeping a vigilant eye on the farmlands.

In this agricultural revolution, there are ample of state-of-the-art devices that can entirely change the way farming is performed.

Fruit Pickers – Today, machines are powerful and intelligent enough in picking fruits. They can even identify when a berry, for instance, is ripe and then plucks it by using a soft hand. These types of robotics machines designed to offer the farmers the opportunity to significantly lower the costs of manual labor for harvesting. The robots can also replace seasonal manual work, freeing up employees on farms.

LiDar Applications – LiDAR system is one of the most advanced and precise technologies in agriculture. It develops 3D models of a farm land and comes up with accurate maps of the natural resources around that area. LiDar technology is leveraged extensively for various reasons in the agriculture sector. It can be used to glean data to identify the exact soil type that a certain farmland has. It can also be utilized for the planning and management of agricultural farms.

Drones – The current practical applications for drones are intensifying faster than ever in a wide range of industries. And in agriculture, it enables farmers and drone pilots to boost efficiency in certain aspects of the farming process. Drones are equipped with propulsion systems, infrared cameras, GPS and navigation systems, programmable controllers and automated flight planning that allows for crop monitoring, planting, livestock management, crop spraying, irrigation mapping, and more.

Looking at reports, the market for agriculture and drones is expected to reach from US$2.52 billion in 2018 to US$24 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 24.76 percent.