UAVOS has announced the addition of R22-UV unmanned helicopter to its agriculture unmanned aircraft portfolio for spraying for diseases, weed and pest control, vegetative control. R22-UV is a manned Robinson-22 helicopter converted by UAVOS to an unmanned aircraft.
Agro-drone R22-UV is equipped with a specially developed (for Robinson helicopters) utility to deliver liquid chemicals – spray system SIMPLEX MODEL 222. System weight – 42kg. Boom span – 7m. Swath width – 14-16m. R22-UV drone is provided with a 100-liter tank for chemicals and can stay airborne for 2 hours.
Advantages that will maximize the value of heavy UAV for farmers include:
- R22-UV can be operated in the regions without airfields, under severe weather conditions and during night-time, in the conditions with a high probability of risk for the pilot.
- UAVs are excellent for operations in conditions of high humidity – where the use of ground equipment is impossible or difficult. Unlike heavy machinery, which cannot go into a field immediately after a heavy rain, UAV has no impact on the ground. Drone sprayers don’t touch the ground so there will be less soil compaction. This is when heavy machinery like tractors roll over the soil, pressing it down and damaging it. Farmers can fix this with plowing, this can be harmful to the soil over a long period of time.
- Replacing back-pack sprayers. UAV implementation eliminates manual spraying – workers do not come into contact with hazardous chemicals.
- UAVs also enable growers to spray their crops precisely and at will, which is critical for fighting herbicide-resistant weeds. Spraying is better. The rotor of an agricultural drone produces a huge downward rotation force, which promotes the pesticide droplets to penetrate the crop from top to bottom, which is conducive to the pesticide droplets evenly scattered in all parts of the plant, so that the spraying is accurate.
- Unmanned aircraft can be used for spot spraying weeds with herbicides or useful crops with pesticides. A spot-oriented approach based on preliminary analysis of digital images from robot cameras allows minimizing the cost of agrochemicals, reducing the chemical impact on soil, water, culture and, ultimately, on the consumer’s body, while achieving higher results of crop cultivation than with traditional approaches. They can then be set on a predetermined GPS-defined route and fly over a field, dropping doses of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides as they go.
