Unmanned aerial vehicles and robots come in handy
agricultural "black technology" has become a new vent for youth entrepreneurship
"The dream five years ago was finally realized today, and drones are really a good helper!" Liu Rui, the chairman of the Jingsong Agricultural Machinery Service Cooperative in Suzhou City, Anhui Province, was in a good mood during the spring cultivation season. , On the other hand because work efficiency has been greatly improved.
His "good helper" is a DJI T20 agricultural plant protection drone that he just purchased. In this year's wheat disease prevention and control, fish pond spraying, this drone has come in handy.
"In the past few days, spraying pesticides to prevent wheat scabs, spraying 600-800 acres a day is not a problem. This will have to be done in the past, three or five days." Liu Rui told reporters.
Anhui is a major agricultural province. Last year, the province ’s total grain output exceeded 40.5 billion kilograms, and currently there are about 43 million mu of wheat in the field. In recent years, large agricultural households and cooperatives have used "black technology" such as plant protection drones and pesticide spraying robots. Agricultural production technology and equipment have been continuously upgraded, providing a prerequisite for agricultural transformation and development. How effective is the application of agricultural high technology, what kind of policy support is needed for technology promotion, and how can talent training be adapted to real needs? With these questions, recently, reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily conducted an in-depth investigation in the main grain-producing areas of Anhui Province.
When drones "meet" traditional agriculture
Pesticide spraying is an important part of the crop planting process. In the early years, electric spray robots were used to spray medicine. Later, sprayer machines were used to spray medicine. However, "people walking in the field are easy to step on wheat, machines are also easy to crush wheat, and people are also at risk of poisoning." This matter is worrying.
Since 2015, Liu Rui tried to use the drone to seed, but the flight control system of the drone was not perfect at that time, and the professional level of the operator was required to be high. Now, the UAV can be automatically navigated, and the left and right deviation of the seeding path is within 2.5 cm, reducing the rebroadcast and missed broadcast, and the work efficiency is greatly improved.
"After the route is set, the round-trip error of the machine is within 0.5 meters, and it will fly for 20 minutes at a time. It can be used to spray pesticides to ensure uniform dosage at different speeds." Liu Rui introduced that the use of drones can save pesticides, which is in line with National requirements to reduce pesticide use.
"As far as I know, there are about 200 drones used in the agricultural cooperatives in Suzhou City. With the higher precision and intelligence of the control system, the drone technology will have a wider application space," he added.
At the same time, plug-in plant protection drones independently developed by Anhui Qiyao Aviation Technology Co., Ltd. are being put into a tense "battle" at Fuyang and Huainan wheat control sites.
The head of the company, Wang Yadi, calculated an account for the reporter: Compared with manual spraying, each plant protection drone has a working efficiency equivalent to 60 labors, and can save 30% of pesticides and 90% of water resources. Various advantages such as high efficiency and wide adaptability to environmental conditions.
It is understood that since 2004, China has begun to research and promote plant protection drones and carry out industrialization exploration. In recent years, with the upgrade of functions, technologies and systems of UAV equipment, plant protection UAVs have gradually become popular. Statistics show that the application scenarios of industrial drones in China are diverse and broad, but the most widely used field is agricultural plant protection, which accounts for 42%.
Young entrepreneurs are finally waiting for the air
The plant protection drone is on fire, and the entrepreneurs around the production and R & D of the industrial chain have finally "stood out".
"Recently, we have also cooperated with government departments in Fuyang, Huainan and other places to provide free drone business training for farmers. Such cooperation is more and more, and entrepreneurship has finally ushered in the wind." Wang Yadi, 26, has been memorable for 3 years. When he first started his business, he looked for customers everywhere. He only had the first batch of business two years ago. Last year, the business gradually increased, and many farmers even took the initiative to purchase drones.
"Our plug-in plant protection drones can replace wearing parts and accessories at any time. Skilled workers can complete the replacement in 10 minutes to avoid wasting time for returning to the factory for repairs. The service range exceeds 500 a day." Wang Yadi graduated from Nanchang Aviation University, aimed at the drone market while in school, returned home to start a business after graduation, product promotion and sales "cold." "After more than 3 years, now the company's business scope has finally expanded to the fields of photogrammetry, water conservancy monitoring, agriculture, forestry and plant protection."
Ding Yanhu, general manager of Suixi Huaijiang Machinery Equipment Co., Ltd. in Huaibei City, also felt the same. He previously worked as a mechanical technician in a mining enterprise. In 2017, he chose drones as an entrepreneurial project to produce, develop, and assemble drones, and participated in the Huaibei Youth Entrepreneurship Competition.
At that time, Ding Yanhu was "staging" in a place with a large number of people in the field, but there were many people who saw the demonstration, but few people came to consult with interested parties. Ding Yanhu clearly remembered his first pot of gold. At that time, a farmer proposed to draw a small portion and use a drone to spray the drug to try the effect. As a result, the wheat in that field is growing happily and the output has increased, and the first drone was sold. This greatly increased Ding Yanhu's confidence, and also allowed him to strengthen his entrepreneurial path.
"From 2017 to 2018, drone technology developed rapidly, from manual operation to fully autonomous flight. We took advantage of the situation to start agricultural plant protection drone sales and after-sales service, and provide pesticide spraying services to large agricultural households."
Recently caught up with the prevention and treatment of Gibberella spp., The intensity of operations is high, and his team is often connected to the axis-repair and maintenance of the aircraft late at night, and during the day, farmers will also be trained for drones and provide aircraft test flights.
During the interview, many entrepreneurs engaged in plant protection drone projects stated that in addition to their unremitting R & D and promotion, the policy support given by relevant state departments in recent years has also provided a solid backing for the promotion of drone promotion.
Beginning in 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and other departments have increased the subsidy for the purchase of new agricultural machinery products such as plant protection drones, targeted at farmers (agricultural machinery) professional cooperatives, plant protection operation organizations and other agricultural production and operation organizations engaged in plant protection operations. The Agricultural Commission of Anhui Province subsidizes 16,000 yuan for electric multi-rotor plant protection drones with a drug load of 10L-15L, and 20,000 yuan for 15L and above.
At present, Ding Yanhu's company has 15 plant protection drones, and has established a drone business cooperation alliance in the local area. Through the platform, it can share resources with drone companies and large agricultural companies, and its business scope has even expanded to thousands of miles away. Xinjiang.
In the view of Ding Yanhu, based on the actual situation of local agricultural development in the future, we should establish and build a comprehensive plant protection service center, improve the training and after-sales system, provide farmers with gridded, refined, and scientific services to help plant protection without people. Development and promotion of the machine industry.
What bottlenecks do we need to break if we want to "fly higher"
Agricultural "black technology" equipment is designed to achieve large-scale unified field operations, but the status of China's land decentralized management and complex terrain will undoubtedly affect its work efficiency, which is a real pain point in front of entrepreneurs.
"The landforms and topography of each region have their own characteristics, some plots are adjacent to villages, and some have many obstacles. At present, the drone on the market has a drug load of about 20 kg and can fly 20 acres at a time. If the wheat field is more scattered, it is necessary. UAVs have more advanced radar obstacle avoidance systems and battery technology to improve battery life. "Ding Yanhu analyzed.
Men Zhenyu, chairman of Anhui Tianlu Aviation Technology Co., Ltd., and his team have been working in the field of UAV research and development for 15 years. In his view, at present, plant protection drone spraying usually needs one person to control, and one or two people cooperate with adding water and medicine. The actual operation volume and efficiency of a single drone is limited. It is no problem to work on a small-scale farmland within 1,000 acres. It will be "unable" on tens of thousands of acres of intensive farms, unless multiple aircraft operate at the same time, but this cost is high, it will also There is a flight risk.
"Now the use of low-residue pesticides is widespread, which requires rapid spraying without delaying time. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve the single-machine operation efficiency and drug-loading volume of UAVs, and break through technical bottlenecks." He believes that improving UAV automation and vision The technical performance of obstacle avoidance, radar obstacle avoidance and other systems, as well as flight skills in complex environments, will be the breakthrough and leap point for future industry development.
Solving the pain points of the industry is inseparable from the collective "force" of the whole society. Professor Cao Chengmao, Dean of the School of Engineering, Anhui Agricultural University, pointed out that the future user demand for agricultural science and technology products is no longer just at the "usable" level, but is rapidly upgraded in the direction of "easy to use, practical, intelligent and comfortable". We will pay more attention to brands, integrated solutions, enterprise qualifications and purchase prices. However, at present, there are still problems such as immature research and development of agricultural artificial intelligence machines, and weak rural network infrastructure.
Cao Chengmao said that with the application and development of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things in the agricultural field, everything from crop selection, cultivation, monitoring, to soil management, pest control, and harvesting will be covered with "technical armed forces." This requires the relevant departments to start from various aspects such as infrastructure, technology supply, and industrial demand to comprehensively promote the deep integration of artificial intelligence and agricultural fields.
Agricultural "black technology" has become a "hot spot" for youth entrepreneurship
At present, the mechanization level of the main crop cultivation and harvesting in China is more than 70%. The development of agricultural technology presents a trend of automation and intelligence, and the application fields are also becoming wider and wider. For example, unmanned cultivation and harvesting machinery, plant protection machinery, grain drying machinery, etc. Young entrepreneurs provide a "broad world". Once a lot of "black technology" is applied in agricultural scenes, it immediately becomes more "earth".
Seeing the current technical bottleneck of the drone, Fang Hanyue, a 2016 student at Anhui Agricultural University, changed the direction of entrepreneurship from "heaven" to "earth." "Compared to drone operations, the robot's conventional medicine box can be loaded with 50 kg of liquid, the single lithium battery can last up to 4 hours, and the operation is simple. The spray nozzle uses a newly designed piezoelectric spray technology to effectively solve pesticide Problems such as uneven atomization and poor effect. "Fang Hanyue said.
After more than two years of unremitting perseverance, the second-generation robot developed by Fang Hanyue was put into operation on Tianrunfa Farm in Jieshou City. Recently, the achievements of Fang Hanyue's entrepreneurial team, the orchard's autonomous plant protection robot based on piezoelectric drive precision application, have finally been commissioned. Through the GPS position collection device designed by the team, mark the key points, start point and end point of the contour of the orchard area, and enter the orchard ridge range. Subsequently, the GPS navigation control system carried out path planning, cooperated with the application system composed of image recognition, push rod, and piezoelectric nozzle, and the robot application work was fully automated.
"At the time of initial research and development, time was running short and funds were in short supply, we wanted to give up several times." Fang Hanyue recalled. When the first generation of robots were applied in the mountainous and hilly environment, they found that the adaptability of the chassis was insufficient. In order to improve the chassis, the friends were under the scorching sun and enduring the mosquito bites. They surveyed the data on the farm. "Now it seems that all this is worth it".
In the future, they will conduct multi-gradient product-level design under the guidance of instructors, and upgrade and combine the unmanned plant protection operating system, manual control plant protection operating system, and precision application system.
Like Fang Hanyue, more and more young entrepreneurs are starting to focus on the agricultural field. Zhang Lu, an innovation and entrepreneurship instructor of the Youth League Committee of Anhui Agricultural University, specially sorted out the college-related agricultural entrepreneurship projects of the college students and found that "In the past five years, projects that inject scientific and technological elements into agricultural production have become hot spots for entrepreneurship, such as cultivating new varieties, breeding new models, R & D of new materials, etc. This shows that more and more teachers, researchers and university students with ideas are trying to use more scientific methods to serve, assist and even subvert traditional agricultural production methods. "
Professor Cao Chengmao also observed this change. "In the agricultural technology market, opportunities and challenges coexist. Although there are problems such as weak original innovation and weak independent research and development capabilities, this is also a good time for industry resource integration and rapid development." Cao Chengmao suggested that relevant departments should improve the construction of scientific and technological innovation systems and mechanisms Build a knowledge innovation system based on colleges and universities, a technology innovation system based on research institutes and enterprises, an achievement transformation and technology service system based on agricultural machinery technology service departments, intermediaries and large agricultural machinery households, with quality inspection The product quality and technology standard system based on departments and enterprises further activates human resources and realizes technology integration and innovation.
China Youth Daily · China Youth Daily reporter Wang Haihan Wang Lei intern Li Xiaoyan Source: China Youth Daily