PhenoBob

The PhenoBob is a self-navigating vehicle with a camera system for the image-based analysis of plants. While driving through a plot, the combined colour and near-infrared cameras take a series of images. The individual images are automatically compiled into a high-resolution overall picture of the plot. Plants are automatically detected and located using the recorded images. 

Using the RTK GPS coordinates of each individual plant allows the PhenoBob to relocate them in the plot, repeated measurements of the plot then tracks their leaf area over time – this applies both to beet plants and weeds. The automatic distinction between beet and weeds is drawn using an algorithm that has been trained with the help of artificial intelligence. In this way, the dynamics of field emergence and the development of the leaf areas in the trial plots are determined – from the moment of emergence through to the 6-leaf stage.