Uckerbots – Swarm Robotics for Organic Sugar Beet Farming

In the previous zUckerrübe project, initiated by a farmer from the Uckermark region, a weeding robot (Uckerbot) was developed for weed control in organic sugar beet cultivation. The aim is to provide a practical alternative to costly manual weeding, which relies on seasonal workers who are difficult to source. In the current project, the Uckerbot prototype is being further developed into a swarm of up to five robots to increase the working speed and operational capacity of this technological innovation. At the same time, a business model is being developed to organise the distribution and maintenance of the robots on farms in the region and to ensure that farmers have easy access to the technology even after the project has ended.

The research project Uckerbots – Concept and Technology Development for Swarm Robotics to Expand Organic Sugar Beet Cultivation in the Uckermark is organised within the BMBF-funded region 4.0 project consortium as part of the WIR! – Change through Innovation in the Region programme. The project partners are the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), the Leibniz Institute for Innovative Microelectronics (IHP), the Centre for Technology and Society (ZTG), and Zauberzeug GmbH.