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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 10, 2017 11:02:34 GMT 12
With the huge advances in drone technology in recent years and now loads of companies planning to use drones for aerial delivery of all sorts of items,I was thinking, I wonder how long it will be before aerial spraying and even aerial spreading of seeds and superphosphate fertiliser will be done by drones. I envisage such drones as working to a pre-planned route over the fields it is intended to spray or fertilise. It would have object avoidance technology to miss fences, telephone and power wires, pylons, etc. It could be controlled and monitored by a 'pilot' sitting in a van using a laptop. Or even from a company base many kilometres away. A drone with rotors could hover and therefore get into some tight spots without as much overspray and waste, I'd guess.
The only thing right now stopping this from happening as far as I see is the lifting capacity of the drones, but I am sure this will be developed in years to come, and not too long from now the topdressing aeroplane and spraying helicopter will be museum pieces of the past.
What do you think?
I also envisage smaller hovering drones that can identify and spray thistles and other weeds autonomously. That almost seems a no brainer.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2017 11:26:42 GMT 12
That's a really good idea Dave. GPS has been used for decades for precise placement of product so one would imagine inputting the course into an unmanned vehicle would be a logical next step.
In an old issue of Flight International - late 70s-early 80s - there was a cartoon of a bloke spraying his veges with an R/C heli, this immediately came to mind!
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Post by ErrolC on Apr 10, 2017 12:13:24 GMT 12
Apparently the main use of drones in agriculture currently is gathering data to add to the maps used to direct automated machinery. The saying is that (currently) a drone business is actually an information business that uses drones (and other units) to collect data.
Most weed-hunting can be done more efficiently by ground-based units I would have thought? Weed-hunting on steep slopes etc would be fairly niche.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 10, 2017 12:30:05 GMT 12
I think drones for spraying market gardens and orchards will likely come too
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Post by lumpy on Apr 10, 2017 12:34:43 GMT 12
There was an article in the paper about them using a drone to drop seeds after the port hills fire . It was a bigish drone ( as far as drones go ) , but still small loads ( compared to a plane or helicopter ) .
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 10, 2017 12:35:18 GMT 12
And maybe mustering sheep in the high country
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Apr 10, 2017 13:04:16 GMT 12
Full-sized helicopters could probably be operated as drones.
The technology would almost certainly be there.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 10, 2017 13:26:10 GMT 12
Indeed.Maybe it's the best way to make Robinson R44's a little safer?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2017 16:03:27 GMT 12
Full-sized helicopters could probably be operated as drones. The technology would almost certainly be there. The MQ-8 series of UAVs operated by the US armed forces are converted commericial light helicopters - Sikorsky S333 and Bell 407 - and Boeing has demo'd an unmanned/optionally piloted version of the AH-6 (military Hughes 500), so the tech is definitely there! |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 10, 2017 16:25:20 GMT 12
Wasn't there a kiwi company making unmanned choppers for mountain rescue?
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Post by madmax on May 5, 2017 23:38:05 GMT 12
I have only just come acroos this thred so my contribution is a tad late. Regarding drones for aerial work, the Pine Rivers or Redcliffe Council (i'm unsure which one) in Queensland now use drones in some instances to replace helicopters for mosquito eradication
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Post by eieio on May 6, 2017 8:14:17 GMT 12
A Kawasaki drone is operating in the Waikato apparently, as the owner of some gorse on very steep ground I can see its usefulness.Volume carried is a limiting factor,gorse needs to be drenched [externally ,not orally]. More fun tho to spray thistles with your homebuilt fixed wing.
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Post by johnm on May 6, 2017 20:09:28 GMT 12
In NZ can the landowner apply spray or phosphate in any type of plane ... is it allowed ?
1 General aviation ?
2 A microlight ?
In the book the topdressers theres a farmer spraying pasture in some rag and tubed plane
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Post by isc on May 6, 2017 21:16:31 GMT 12
There is talk of using mini (very)drones to replace bees for pollination. isc
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 6, 2017 23:30:43 GMT 12
There are still plenty of bees despite what the Greenie media reckons. But even if they all die out, we'll still have flies to pollinate crops and plants, they already do 70% of the pollination as it is, apparently. And we all know we'll never accidentally wipe out the fly population.
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Post by delticman on May 7, 2017 6:04:41 GMT 12
Full-sized helicopters could probably be operated as drones. The technology would almost certainly be there. Yes there is a radio controlled K-Max tried on fire fighting. |
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Post by delticman on May 7, 2017 6:05:51 GMT 12
There are still plenty of bees despite what the Greenie media reckons. But even if they all die out, we'll still have flies to pollinate crops and plants, they already do 70% of the pollination as it is, apparently. And we all know we'll never accidentally wipe out the fly population. More bees are killed by cars than aircraft. |
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