Calgary (Rural Roots Canada) – Drones are quickly becoming a must-have item for farmers.

These unmanned aerial vehicles are revolutionizing how farmers manage, monitor, and nurture crops.

Precision AI, based out of Saskatchewan, has been in the agricultural drone space for some time and recently released the world’s first precision AI spraying drone. The idea for this particular piece of drone tech came from the mind of Precision AI founder and CEO Daniel McCann, who was cleaning out his garage when the idea of using drones to identify plants popped into his head.

It wasn’t long before he was testing the tech in farmer’s fields.

“It’s an aerial spot sprayer. Think of it as a crop duster with artificial intelligence that only sprays weeds,” he says.

The drone is equipped with advanced AI designed for broad-acre crops.

“We’ve developed a really advanced AI and computer vision that allows the drone as it’s flying, in real-time, to identify that species of every plant in the field. If it’s a weed, it will actually spray only the weed and leave the crop alone,” McCann adds.

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For farmers, that means massive chemical savings.

The drone also comes with an auto-refill and charge hive design.

The biggest drawback of this drone technology is something no one can control – the weather. McCann calls it a learning experience.

“It’s hard to deal with the weather, as everybody in agriculture already knows. We’re trying to develop a system of artificial intelligence to recognize plants. It has to fly at the right time to recognize them because they grow too big or too small. So we always have to adapt what we do because of the weather.” 

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Last year, the drone was the Farmer’s Choice Ag Innovation Award winner at Agri-Trade in Red Deer. The annual event brings exhibitors and buyers together from around Alberta, Canada, and the world. For their efforts, Precision AI took home a cheque for $5,000.

To learn more about Precision A-I and its drone technology, you can visit their website.