Scorpion Project - Program Horizon 2020
The aim of the project is to develop autonomous robots to treat mountain vineyards without wasting chemicals and with environmental and economic benefits.
Reducing the use of pesticides in agriculture is a challenge for society because of its impact on human and animal health and the environment.
Spraying in agriculture represents a societal challenge due to its negative impact in human and animal health and in environment. SCORPION’s objective is to develop a safe and autonomous precision spraying tool integrated into a modular unmanned tractor (robotics platform) to increase spraying efficiency, while reducing human and animal exposure to pesticides, water usage and labour costs.
The project will focus on steep slope vineyards but with impact in other high-value permanent crops (olive groves and fruticulture).
SCORPION’ will consider Global Navigation Satellite System (EGNSS) receiver (triple frequency, PPP, OS-NMA, HAS) fused with other sensors, to increase the solution reliability, accuracy and safeness, and to enable autonomous ultraviolet light treatments (to eliminate partial need of phytopharmaceuticals) and to allow high precision spraying in permanent crops.