In today’s climate of staff shortages and high labour costs, herbicide resistance, and the desire for increased soil health, finding new, efficient and innovative ways to approach weeding is more important than ever. Join us as experts share information about a selection of autonomous weeding robots that are currently available in BC.

• Charlotte Mignol from Naio Technologies will discuss the capabilities of their three autonomous weeding robots now available in Canada:
• • The Oz, designed for small-scale to larger scale vegetable operations
  • The Ted, tailored for vineyards and trellised fruits
  • The Orio, developed for larger-scale vegetable crops.
  • Demonstration videos will also be presented.

• Kevin D. Vander Kooi, a research technician at the University of Guelph in the Department of Plant Agriculture, will share his firsthand experiences from trials involving the Naio Orio and the FarmDroid FD20.
• Elise Smedbol, the head researcher of weed science at the Research and Development for the Agri-Environment (IRDA), will present the outcomes of their recent three-year trials with the Naio Oz robot in corn, beans, and soy crops.

These researchers bring practical insights, discussing the challenges, limitations, and successes encountered in their hands-on experiences with these machines.