Solinftec unveils robotic ag sprayer

Solinftec has said the new machine will be commercially available in 2023. (Photo: Solinftec)

Solinftec, an agricultural digitalization company, is expanding its Solix Ag Robotics offerings. In addition to its Solix Scouting robot, it has unveiled the Solix Sprayer robot designed to detect and spray weeds. In partnership with manufacturing, research and development company McKinney Corp., which will manufacture the Solix spray robot in Indiana, the company said the technology is slated to become commercially available in 2023 to farmers, cooperatives and ag-retailers.

“Solinftec’s partnership with McKinney Corporation will positively impact our ability to market and deliver Solix Ag Robotics by consolidating Solix’s scalability and accelerating service to the -North American markets,” said Leonardo Carvalho, Solinftec’s director of operations. “It also supports Solinftec’s goal of making this technology available globally.”

Solinftec designed its scouting and sprayer robots to help producers reduce their chemical inputs and deliver a lower carbon footprint and environmental impact.

The new Solix Sprayer robot will provide autonomous and sustainable spot-spray applications on grower’s fields. Similar to the Solix Scouting robot, the spray robot is powered by four solar panels that control the drive system and the spray system while providing reports on crop populations, weed identification and densities, disease identification and thresholds, insect identification and thresholds, nutrient deficiency identification and densities, NDVI among other layers of maps for data analysis, and much more useful data to the grower virtually 24/7.

Solinftec is expanding its Solix Ag Robotics offering with the Solix Sprayer robot designed to detect and spray weeds. (Photo: Solinftec)

The Solix Spray robot will provide weed spot-spray maps with analysis on inputs saved and can service up to 96 acres per day depending on the field shape and terrain, said the company.

With a goal to change agriculture in order to transform the world, the need and priority to feed the world on a larger scale with a smaller impact has made Solinftec said it seeks out new ways to reimagine agriculture. Founded in Brazil with U.S. offices in Indiana, Solinftec has more than 15 years of experience developing digital ag solutions throughout various geographies and crops around the world. The Solix Ag Robotics, connected and integrated with Solinftec’s innovative ALICE AI platform, works together to orchestrate machine operations and calculates producers’ ultimate needs and objectives and delivers real-time actionable recommendations and actions in a more eco-friendly way.

“Solinftec focuses on really solving structural problems in agricultural management and offers solutions that truly promote low-impact agriculture and not only measure or certify the footprint but offers a real solution to reduce your impact,” said Carvalho. “Weed detection is a leading issue in fields across the North America and the Solix Sprayer is designed to not only monitor and scan fields like the original scouting version, but detect and manage weeds with technology which allows the device to spot-spray into the plant instead of from above, eliminating drift and social compaction caused by larger machines and help lower environmental impact.”

Pilots for the Solix models are currently running in North America in partnership with the ag cooperative Growmark, Purdue University in the U.S., and Stone Farms and University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatachewan, Canada.

In Brazil, the Solix Scouting robot has been manufactured and produced by cutting-edge electronics manufacturing service company, Hi-Mix Eletrônicos and has been commercially available since last April.

“Since the beginning, we have identified a strong culture in Solinftec to the agriculture market, investing heavily in R&D, plus a determination for quality, flexibility and agility for the best time to market,” said Daniel Carvalho, co-founder Hi-Mix Eletrônicos S/A. “Hi-Mix is proud to work with Solinftec, a company always looking for state-of-the-art in its products and solutions.”