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Germans developing weed control using laser-armed drones. What could go wrong?
Next Big Future ^ | FEBRUARY 08, 2013 | Brian Wang

Posted on 02/09/2013 5:28:50 AM PST by jmcenanly

German scientists are seriously developing a laser based system of weed control in order to be more "environmentally friendly" than using chemical poisons. What could go wrong ? Laser armed Robots and drones for farming and weed control and they will have artificial intelligence algorithms and high resolution cameras for recognizing plants. They would have the goal of having this on a large scale for better "organic farming". The laser system is currently being tested in a greenhouse.

Drones or small robotic planes would fly over the fields. These could also fight weeds near protected waters, where herbicides are not allowed to be used. According to researcher Christian Marx, the German railway service has expressed interest in the project as well. "30 percent of the railway tracks are in water protection areas where you can't use herbicides anyway."

Could robots or drones weeding beds and fields using laser be the answer? At the moment this is only a pipe dream, but in a few years such scenarios could be far from impossible. The laser beam is directed into the growth center of the plant, thus killing it. In a project funded by the German Research Council (DFG), the scientists started by adjusting the energy of the laser precisely and effectively to the type and height of the plant. “We have to place the beam directly where it is needed,” says project leader Prof. Thomas Rath from the Institute of Biological Production Systems.

The scientists in the current project are concentrating on CO² lasers, which emit beams in the mid-infrared range.

(Excerpt) Read more at nextbigfuture.com ...


TOPICS: Agriculture; Science
KEYWORDS: drones; farming

1 posted on 02/09/2013 5:29:06 AM PST by jmcenanly
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To: jmcenanly

Thank God Hitler didn’t have them....


2 posted on 02/09/2013 5:38:56 AM PST by nevergore ("It could be that the purpose of my life is simply to serve as a warning to others.")
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To: jmcenanly

Sure. I am constantly amazed but not surprised by the complete stupidity shown by some humans. They are blinded by their enthusiasm over their new “invention” and are incapable of seeing the stupidity of their actions.

Even worse - the stupid idea some scientists had to position giant mirrors in space to reflect the sun’s rays to giant collectors on Earth - think of all the solar energy. Not a thought given to what would happen if something went wrong. (entire cities roasted to death)


3 posted on 02/09/2013 5:49:41 AM PST by I want the USA back (Only people with their head up their a$$ vote democrat.)
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To: jmcenanly

This would be an excellent tool to use when OLenin’s assassination committee determines that Joseph Bloughe of Amarillo Texas has obtained a 30 round magazine for his 1937 Turkish Mauser and is thus a Terrorist. With this tool that Terrorist can be neatly taken out in the middle of a crowded sidewalk downtown. No one will hear a gunshot and no TSA troops will storm through the pedestrians; he just drops.


4 posted on 02/09/2013 5:50:00 AM PST by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINE www.fee.org/library/books/economics-in-one-lesson)
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To: I want the USA back

Or underground CO2 sequestration. Earthquake happens, entire town is smothered to death.


5 posted on 02/09/2013 6:25:10 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Happy New Year!)
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To: I want the USA back

Re: space mirrors: airliner goes off course, turns into fireball.


6 posted on 02/09/2013 6:27:48 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Happy New Year!)
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To: arthurus

time to again watch the Terminator 3, the rise of the machines.


7 posted on 02/09/2013 6:41:57 AM PST by Mouton (108th MI Group.....68-71)
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To: jmcenanly
"Laser armed Robots and drones for farming and weed polictical control and they will have artificial intelligence algorithms and high resolution cameras for recognizing plants conservatives.

Jarrett and Soros will be looking into this.

8 posted on 02/09/2013 6:58:49 AM PST by bgill
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To: jmcenanly

Yup. If you hook this system up with ARGUS then overthrow of any government by militants becomes highly problematic. Wouldn’t Syria’s Assad love to have a system like this.

Totalitarian political systems will become nearly bulletproof, absent effective cheap drone countermeasures available to insurgents to defeat both drone surveillance and sniper capabilities.

So far, no such countermeasures are available to insurgents capable of detecting and defeating drones operating at 17,000 ft.


9 posted on 02/09/2013 9:42:02 AM PST by Seizethecarp (Defend aircraft from "runway kill zone" mini-drone helicopter swarm attacks: www.runwaykillzone.com)
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To: jmcenanly

A laser based system of weed control has stoners fearing an increase of prices.


10 posted on 02/09/2013 10:08:14 AM PST by Vaduz
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