The new robot, named the Ladybird is self-driving and laser-guided. It makes use of sensors and hyper-spectral cameras to collect data about crop conditions and pests as which it interprets automatically and delivers to the farmer.

It has completed a successful 3-day test on an Australian farm that grows onions, spinach and beetroot.

"Ladybird focuses on broad acre agriculture and is solar-electric powered. It has an array of sensors for detecting vegetable growth and pest species, either plant or animal", said chief designer Salah Sukkarieh, professor of robotics and intelligent systems at the University of Sydney". She also has a robotic arm for the purposes of removing weeds as well as the potential for autonomous harvesting".

Sukkarieh says that the robot will increase the efficiency and yield of a farm, freeing staff from manual work to spend more time to adjust and improve their methods utilizing the information it collects. If the Ladybird picks up early stages of a crop disease or infestation, the staff will have the necessary time to address these threats in a quicker way than if they were left to identify the signs on their own.

Ed Fagan who is the owner of the farm where the trial run of Ladybird was carried out said that many times if one is short of an element in the plant, by the time one gets to see a symptom it is too late. The Ladybird will be able to pick up a nutrient deficiency before any symptoms are seen. It can go out and do an insect survey at any time that one wishes.

It sounds quite promising but the technology will need to be affordable for a farm to buy and maintain and also, it must be durable enough to justify. How efficient it can make a farm must offset the cost of the Ladybird in order to make the investment worthwhile.