Farm-ING looks to leverage their AI and custom-built technologies for more efficient yields and a healthier environment.
Siemens has sponsored this post.
Farming and technology collided long ago, and ever since then country life has been filled with varying degrees of advancements. Whether we talk about the cotton gin or self-driving tractors, technology has long been quietly thriving in the world of agriculture.
Farm-ING, an agriculture machinery developer based in Austria, is on a mission to transform traditional farming into a more sustainable, efficient and environmentally friendly practice.
“We currently offer engineering services to finance the development of our own technology and machines. Our main technological focus is on plant recognition using AI to find the right plant in the field, and to take care of and process it accordingly. With this technology, we offer different innovative machines for sustainable weed eradication, as we’re hoping for a greener and brighter future in agriculture,” Farm-ING CTO, Gerhard Zimmermann, says about the company’s capabilities.
Reimagining Agriculture
Farm-ING specializes in creating cutting-edge agricultural machinery tailored for organic and sustainable farming, with a primary focus on digital agricultural technology. Their products are an array of smart agricultural tools and components — from an automatic row guidance system to a fully automatic mechanical InRow-weeder, to a high precision SpotSprayer. Combined with existing ag-robots the task can be carried out fully autonomous.
While they are working on equipment in a variety of areas, they all focus on making AI technologies for practical agricultural use. “The main thing that you have to know is the requirements of each ‘department’ and combine the best things out of all worlds,” says Zimmermann. The heart of their design process is understanding the core needs of farmers, and they aim to optimize the interaction between their customers, the equipment and the environment.
The design process at Farm-ING isn’t all that different from the traditional art-to-part journey. They start with an idea from their customer and work to get to a functional prototype as quickly as possible.
“We have some suppliers that are specialized in prototyping and small runs, so we can get parts within days, instead of weeks. With the prototypes, we always do some practical tests and discussion with users and rework it in the same fast way to optimize results,” Zimmermann explained.
With a team deeply rooted in agricultural backgrounds, Farm-ING possesses a unique advantage, appreciating the nuances and subtleties of the industry. Flexibility is vital for their team, which recognizes that a narrow focus on agriculture would be shortsighted. They welcome external views and encourage outside the box thinking from their team.
Combining Heavy Machinery with High-End Technologies
While there is a lot of heavy machinery floating around that runs autonomously or leverages a significant amount of technology, there is always the nagging concern of letting technology loose with large machines—for example, it’s far more frightening to think of a tractor combine chasing you than it is to have Siri give you the wrong directions.
One of the major challenges faced by Farm-ING is seamlessly integrating high-tech components into the world of heavy machinery. Zimmermann mentioned a German saying that goes, “the dog is buried in the details.” That’s why, rather than retrofitting technology into existing designs, they design the mechanics around the technology, creating a designed-for-purpose feel with their equipment.
Farm-ING tackles these challenges by maintaining a diverse and skilled team. While most of their members have a background in mechanical engineering, they also have specialists in AI, camera systems, robotics, GIS and agricultural technology. A multidisciplinary approach allows them to navigate the complexities of creating AI-driven agricultural equipment effectively and safely.
At the heart of Farm-ING’s product line is a commitment to improving sustainability and automation in agriculture. Their flagship products focus on reducing the need for pesticides without resorting to manual labor. They do this by developing fully mechanical AI-based weed control solutions for row crops.
The core technology driving all their solutions is AI-based plant recognition and localization, enabling precise and efficient weed removal while caring for crops. But Farm-ING doesn’t stop at weed control. They are also working on high-precision spot sprayers, providing accurate pesticide application and reducing environmental impact. Their ultimate vision is to achieve complete autonomy in farming processes by combining their AI-driven solutions with cutting-edge robotics, making farming a highly efficient and sustainable endeavor.
“From our experience a fully autonomous system is only the icing on the cake,” Zimmermann says. “That’s why our first focus is on automation in the field itself.”
The Role of Solid Edge in Farm-ING’s Success
Solid Edge is at the heart of Farm-ING’s design process. It is the tool they use to create conceptual 3D models early in the design process, as well as more detailed digital models as the process matures.
Their journey with Solid Edge began because of prior experience and a trusted relationship with Siemens service partners. They explored other CAD software options initially, but past experience allowed them to get rolling quickly and they found that Solid Edge outperformed the competition. Zimmerman was particularly happy with the performance of Solid Edge when it came to large assemblies.
When asked about specific features they can’t live without, Zimmermann says, “I can’t name any specific features that are more valuable than others for us. The basic functions are important for now, but we are aware that there are many more possibilities in the software that we currently don’t use… we’ll be looking at expanding our use of the software in the future.”
The Future of Farm-ING and Solid Edge with AI
The future of Farm-ING is bright, and the company is rapidly growing. With 12 dedicated employees, they’ve bootstrapped their way through development by offering insights and engineering services, as well as their growing list of products and components. Now, they are onboarding investors to accelerate the development of their innovative solutions.
“We want to be the solution partner for sustainable weed control,” Zimmermann says.
In the coming years, they plan to develop and release a range of innovative products, each with significant market potential. Their expertise in agricultural engineering, technology, automation, AI and robotics positions them for success, making them well-prepared for the next phase of development.
Farm-ING continues to blend technology and agriculture to create a greener, more efficient and sustainable future for farming. There’s no doubt that the company will implement the latest release, Solid Edge 2024, which adds additional AI-assisted functionality on top of the programs already very intelligent Synchronous Technology.
Solid Edge 2024 sports an AI-powered interface that detects patterns in user behavior to offer the next command in a sequence. Choices are placed intelligently and conveniently at the cursor, avoiding frequent cross-screen eye movement and letting users work faster. An altogether new AI-assisted Operation Editing capability in Solid Edge CAM Pro guides users through machining operations and offers suggestions based on the machining application and learned part-programming style.
This combination of the best AI-assisted design tools and Farm-ING’s commitment to high-quality design and engineering is sure to expose them to new opportunities in an industry that is quietly hungry for new technology.
To learn more about Solid Edge and how they are working with startups, visit Siemens.
