China has designed synthetic intelligence (AI)-powered rubber-tapping robots in an try to deal with persistent labor shortages plaguing its pure rubber business, state media reported Monday.
Jointly developed by the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) and Beijing-based tech agency Automotive Walking Technology, the self-navigating robots mark a leap ahead in agricultural automation, the Beijing-based Xinhua News Agency reported.
The robots are set to bear trials in rubber plantations in China’s southern Hainan province through the tapping season in April.
China’s pure rubber sector, which is important for tire manufacturing and as a supply of commercial provides, is presently going through a significant workforce scarcity attributable to its exhausting working situations, nocturnal shifts and excessive incidence of occupational ailments.
“The rubber-tapping robots have been developed to address the exodus of rubber tappers, which is the industry’s critical pain point,” Cao Jianhua, deputy director of the CATAS rubber analysis institute, was quoted as saying by Xinhua News.
Powered by lithium batteries that present over eight hours of steady operation, the rubber-tapping robots can harvest 100 to 120 bushes per hour.
Once within the mass-production part, the price of the rubber-tapping robotic will drop beneath 100,000 yuan ($13,794), and for a 3.33-hectare (8.22-acre) rubber backyard, robot-based tapping will recoup the acquisition price inside about 18 months, mentioned Sun Yao, co-founder of Automotive Walking Technology.
“We’ve been in discussions with several multinational tire companies and rubber growers throughout Southeast Asia, including in Indonesia and Thailand, and they’re showing strong interest in our product,” mentioned Cao.
Source: www.anews.com.tr