Facial recognition for plants 

Ara is an intelligent sprayer that focuses on individual plants. It works with cameras, a strobe light and artificial intelligence.

This article was published in issue 8-2022 of Profi, the German magazine for agricultural technology professionals. It provides in-depth information on the operation and performance of ARA.

The article is only available in German, but we used DeepL to offer an automated English version.

If you don't have time for the whole article, here are some interesting excerpts:

Depending on the application, savings of between 40 and 90 % are possible, according to the manufacturer. The system also offers enormous savings potential for the application of fungicides or insecticides to crops. The trick is that the machine only sprays where plants have grown. The nozzles switch off if there are any shortage.

Profi 8-2022

As a basis for image analysis, two camera units are installed in each spray bonnet, each monitoring a working width of one metre. An RGB camera and an infrared sensor are integrated in each unit. The camera takes up to five pictures per second. To ensure that the photos are always comparably exposed, there is a stroboscopic flash light that switches on and off synchronised with the photo recordings.

Profi 8-2022

As a basis for image analysis, two camera units are installed in each spray bonnet, each monitoring a working width of one metre. An RGB camera and an infrared sensor are integrated in each unit. The camera takes up to five pictures per second. To ensure that the photos are always comparably exposed, there is a stroboscopic flash light that switches on and off synchronised with the photo recordings.

Profi 8-2022