Autonomous platform drones are prominently integrated into the Blum system.

Sensors on the drones, coupled with artificial intelligence, detect pests before they are able to disrupt the crop and organically control them without the use of environmentally unsafe pesticides. Mechanical limbs are able to harvest fruit with specific market quality requests, such as certain taste profiles. And of course, the drones can work 24-7, while powered by renewable energy.

Autonomous Platform drone Duties

Plant

  • Irrigation water & nutrition for site specific applications 

  • Plant stress detection

  • Plant disease & site specific control

  • Pest detection & site specific control

  • Super plant detection: elevated fruit nutrient densities, elevated yields, reduced input requirements (water, nutrients, labor) 

  • Canopy management 

  • Flower: counts, size, color, odor, chemical makeup

  • Canopy density: leaf to fruit ratios, management 

  • Plant fertility & health status

Crop

  • Crop scouting

  • Crop progression

  • Crop counts

  • Size by stage

  • External blemishes

  • Internal status

  • Skin thickness

  • Crop disease

  • Fruit color (pigments)

  • Fruit juiciness 

  • Fungal & bacteria detection & site specific control: Food safety 

  • Fruit sugar, acid & solvable solid ratios 

  • Fruit nutrient density 

  • Harvest & management: size & shape, color, nutrient density, sugar & acid, maturity, pressure

Soil

  • Weed & cover crop management

Sensor Types

  • Near Infrared Spectroscopy: non-invasive imaging method involving the quantification of chromophore concentration resolved from the measurement of near infrared (NIR) light attenuation, temporal or phasic changes

  • Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)

  • Photochemical Reflectance Index: PRI is sensitive to changes in carotenoid pigments (e.g. xanthophyll pigments) in live foliage. photosynthetic light use efficiency, or the rate of carbon dioxide uptake by foliage per unit energy absorbed. As such, it is used in studies of vegetation productivity and stress. Because the PRI measures plant responses to stress, it can be used to assess general ecosystem health using satellite data or other forms of remote sensing. Applications include vegetation health in evergreen shrublands, forests, and agricultural crops prior to senescence. PRI is defined by the following equation using reflectance (ρ) at 531 and 570 nm wavelength.

  • Thermal Images