At first glance, grocery store shelves stacked with fresh tomatoes and peppers may seem unremarkable. Yet behind this abundance lies some of the most labour-intensive work in agriculture, much of it still done by hand. At North Carolina State University, researchers are working to change that narrative with a new generation of intelligent farm robots inspired, quite fittingly, by superheroes.
In the Marvel universe, Thor is known for his mythical hammer and superhuman strength. At NC State, Thor is a hammer-wielding robot being trained for a far more down-to-earth task: supporting vegetable crops in the field.
Researchers at the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative (N.C. PSI) are developing AI-powered robotic systems designed to take on some of the most physically demanding and repetitive jobs in fruit and vegetable production. From staking tomato plants to harvesting ripe produce, these machines aim to ease labour shortages while improving efficiency and precision on farms.
From her home office, Andrea Monteza, Director of the N.C. PSI Makerspace and a mechatronics engineer, shared renderings of Thor alongside another robot known as SpiderBot, designed to weave twine around crops. Mounted on an autonomous platform roughly the size of a golf cart, the system uses onboard stereo cameras for 360-degree vision, while LiDAR sensors scan and map crop rows and help the robot navigate uneven terrain.
Read more at Global Agriculture
