MANHATTAN (KSNT) – Kansas State University announced on Monday that its researchers and partners from international universities are developing an artificial intelligence-driven computer system aimed at helping soybean farmers.
K-State researchers and partners from universities across Japan, India and Australia are developing an AI-driven computer vision system called Smart Scout as a way to detect soybean yield and lodging — the risks of the crop falling before harvest, according to a press release from K-State Communications Manager for Administration and Finance Vikki Watson.
According to K-State, a pest called Dectes texanus is a major cause for lodging in Kansas, but the AI system is being developed with advanced cameras to detect pest infestations, crop damage, soybean yields and to provide farmers options they can make during growing season. Smart Scout is also being developed to work with other crops.
“The system is flexible — it can be used by hand or attached to farm equipment like sprayers or other vehicles, and it also provides easy-to-understand, visual insights right in the field,” K-State Entomology Professor and member of the research team Brian McCornack said in a press release.
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The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) supported K-State to develop the AI system by giving a three-year grant and the grant was the among the first awarded under the Advancing Innovations for Empowering NextGen Agriculture, which is a research initiative with the U.S., Australia, Japan and India that focuses on technology research in agriculture.
The NSF invested $2.4 million and other countries contributed $4 million for six international research projects, including the grant that funded Smart Scout.
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