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OPICO is thrilled for FarmDroid to have won both the Arable Innovation Award and the Future Farming Innovation Award at 2023 LAMMA Show.

"Some growers are looking at dispensing with tractors altogether, in favour of robots", says OPICO MD James Woolway. 

"Helping us achieve our objectives is the FarmDroid. It operates completely from solar power and is therefore the most eco-friendly form of sowing and weed control available", said Farm Manager, Oliver Scott. 

OPICO MD James Woolway said "the potential savings in herbicides, fuel, labour and machinery costs, including depreciation, maintenance, tyres.... are what make me believe this technology is here to stay". 

"OPICO has the distribution network, parts and technical teams to support FarmDroid throughout Wales and the whole of the UK and this award endorses the ground breaking product we have committed to", said James Woolway, OPICO MD. 

Danish robotics company FarmDroid, reach a major milestone by selling their 250th robot - a remarkable achievement for a company that was only founded in 2018. 

Powered by the sun, Shropshire Petals' FarmDroid FD20 flower robot will spend its time seeding and then weeding Delphiniums, removing the requirement for the hours of manual weeding usually required. 

FarmDroid has been awarded a Silver Award for Innovation by The Royal Highland and Agricultural of Scotland (RHASS) ahead of its annual show.

The latest robotic technology was being demoed at Cereals, attracting a lot of interest, including the FarmDroid FD20 on the OPICO demo plot. 

"It cuts down weeding time by 80-94% and....farmers have found yields have improved by up to 40% compared with tractor-hoed crops". 

"Solar panels need daylight not sunlight, so the FD20 will keep working on cloudy days"

"I did not expect to get involved in robotics so quickly, but we believe they will be the backbone of the next major step in agricultural technology", said James Woolway, OPICO Managing Director. 

"Simplicity is just one feature that sets the FarmDroid apart from anything else on the market, and because the machine is also solar-powered, there is no fuel bill", said James Woolway, managing director of OPICO. 

“Instead of using cameras and complex vision recognition software to locate crop rows and weeds, the FarmDroid knows exactly where it has placed the seed and can hoe around the seedlings with remarkable precision", said James Woolway, OPICO's managing director.

“We believe robotics will form the backbone of the next major step in technological development for agriculture,” explains OPICO managing director James Woolway.

Explaining one of the key benefits of the FarmDroid, Mr Brettell says that "because the robot knows where the plants are from the outset, we can hoe straightaway. This avoids the weeds getting ahead of the beet". 

Dr Fountas said "Weeding robots address future needs such as reducing manual labour requirement by up to 40%, along with the high environmental impact of herbicides and potential yield losses of up to 60% from failing to control weeds". 

Mr Brettell said "I loved the fact that being solar-powered means it is completely energy self sufficient and that the simple approach to of recording where seeds are planted allows it to accurately weed between the crop planted in the row".