A team from Georgia Tech built a swinging robot named Tarzan, inspired by sloth movements. This bot has more in common with a sloth than the King of the Jungle (Photo from Georgia Tech)
What do sloths, Tarzan, and agriculture have in common? A new farming aid. A team of researchers from Georgia Tech is working on an alternative to farming drones. Rather than flying over a field of crops to keep an eye on them, this new robot, named Tarzan, will swing over crops using guy-wires stretched over the fields. Judging from his name, you would think the movement was inspired by the fictional King of the Jungle, but researchers actually turned to sloths for inspiration.
The robot has 3D-printed claws that help it swing from one area to another, like how sloths use their long claws to swing from vine to vine. The robot is also equipped with built-in cameras that will take measurements and pictures of each plant. To ensure its strength, Tarzan’s arms are made of carbon fiber and reinforced with aluminum. Each arm is also equipped with a dc motor at its base. This saves time for farmers who don’t constantly have to tend to their crops.
Ideally, the system works by deploying several robots at the beginning of the growing season. In a collaborative effort, they would swing around the field keeping an eye on the crops with their sensors and dishing out pesticides or fertilizer when it’s necessary. The data they collect will then be sent to the farmer for analysis.
Despite its reputation for being a slow creature, team leader and Georgia Institute of Technology professor Jonathan Rogers insists sloths are actually energy efficient. He and the rest of the team, wanted their robot to be efficient so it can be powered by the sun in the future.
Tarzan isn’t quite ready for commercial use just yet, but researchers are gearing up for the testing phase. This summer, Tarzan will head to a soybean field in Athens, Georgia to take pictures for another team of scientists studying various soybean plants.
Picturing a robot swinging from cable to cable sounds a little silly, but it’s a way to avoid issues regular farming drones run into. Ones that travel on the ground run the risk of crashing into obstacles, while ones that fly use a lot of energy and can still run into other objects.
There are other smart solutions farmers can use to check in on their corps, such as data gathering poles. These provide cost-efficient surveillance, but they can only cover a small area since they are stationary. And regular drones can’t provide 24-hour coverage since they eventually need to be recharged. Tarzan tries to avoid these issues while covering as much of the field as possible.
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