World’s first robot-operated farm to open in Japan

A lettuce farm in Kyoto  Prefecture is set to begin operating with all except one task being carried out by robots.

Tokyo lettuce farm to use robots. Image by liz west / CC BY 2.0

The Japanese company behind the innovation claim that by using the robotic system, production of lettuces will be boosted from 21,000 to 50,000 per day, with further increases expected in the future. The robots will replant seeds, water, trim and harvest the crops, though humans will still be needed to initially plant the seeds. The robots responsible for the work will not, however, be androids – the machines are more like conveyor belts with arms. There are plans to introduce robotic farms elsewhere in Japan . Read more: theguardian.com