I have an interesting use case idea for OWLs. I work as an agronomist in West Aus, and one problem is post harvest, getting people to remember where there were weed problems in paddocks.
Irecently saw a promo image from JD about their harvest vision automation tech, that automatically adjusts machine settings depending on upcoming crop density etc etc, and it got me thinking about how it seems like a good idea but a missed opportunity.
Would it be possible to mount a few Owls on the roof of a harvester, or possibly on the header. And use it to identify and map weed pressure? My main targets would be grass weeds or wild radish in canola, cereal and lupin crops.
This would give me heat maps of weed types following harvest, allowing for targeted summer weed management and better knowledge going into the following season about how to target specific issues.
I know that dust and night time, and possibly heat would be issues, but minor details can be navigated around if there is good quality, useful data being generated.
2 Likes
Hi Cam, thanks for joining!
It’s a pretty good idea - I remember chatting with Nick up in Gero about doing it behind the front for GoB spot spraying.
Mounted to the roof of the cab could work but I would worry it’s too low resolution. Could be worth trying though. What size of weed would you be trying to locate? Mounting on the front itself might be a better option, then you could add some dedicated lights and have it lower to the ground, maybe avoiding some of the dust coming up over the front?
Apologies for the delay in responding, was caught up at a conference this past week. We could try getting you one or two before harvest ends?
Trying to spot anything that’s made it above the canopy! Radish, brome, wild oats and ryegrass probably. Not with any intent to spray at harvest. Mounting in the front probably gives better reflection of crop height and lets a few be mounted, plus have dedicated lights too. Might be a project for 2027 to try get one on a machine, generate some data and see what we can do with it. My current thoughts are now wanting to map barley smut to harvest clean seed! As always, too many ideas, not enough time!
