SwarmFarm wins funding to commercialise robotic weed killer
Advanced Agricultural Systems, a farming company, has won almost $1m of funding from the Federal Government's commercialisation assistance initiative today, to develop a robotic farming system. The system, called SwarmFarm, comprises of small, lightweight robots that travel across fields 24/7, plucking individual weeds out of the ground using microwave and laser technology, without the use of herbicides or human intervention.  

The federal government's commercialisation assistance initiative today injected $8.5 million into the start-up sector, helping 10 Australian businesses take their ideas to market.

The successful applicants to the Entrepreneurs' Programme received between $250,000 and $1 million each in assistance for innovations in areas including robotics, agriculture, medicine, tourism, advertising and the environment.

Elders is pumping in funds to help SwarmFarm Robotics bring its prototype unmanned machines, which work 24 hours a day in crop paddocks, to the commercial market. Credit: swarmfarm.com

"This support will help the recipients commercialise their ideas so they can take advantage of market opportunities and ensure their intellectual property is protected," said Assistant Minister for Innovation Wyatt Roy.

Almost $1 million will go to a farming company chaired by former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman called Advanced Agricultural Systems, which is developing a robotic farming system called SwarmFarm.