Original Title: A “Strongman” Arrives in the Fields, Can Carry Hundreds of Jin of Seedlings (New Quality Productive Forces in Spring Plowing)
In the picture, a backpack robot follows Li Zhuohéng to transport seedling trays.
“I can lift hundreds of jin of seedlings, believe it or not?” This year during spring plowing preparations, Li Zhuohéng, a grower in Xindu District, Chengdu, Sichuan, has been “showing off” to everyone he meets.
When did the 48-year-old Li Zhuohéng become so strong? The villagers were curious.
He pointed to the small square box “with legs” behind him, “It’s all thanks to this ‘helper’.”
The unremarkable small square box is an intelligent following backpack robot, commonly used in factories but rarely seen in the fields. Li Zhuohéng placed stacks of seedling trays and farm tools on it, connected it to the electronic bracelet on his wrist, and with a wave of his hand, the robot equipped with a four-wheel steering system began to follow automatically.
“The field soil is soft, and there are gravels, but its ‘footwork’ is excellent.” Sensors and algorithms command it to overcome obstacles. The “helper” closely followed Li Zhuohéng all the way, steadily delivering the seedling trays to the seedling nursery field.
Li Zhuohéng grows 600 mu of rice in the Xindu District Rice and Vegetable Modern Agricultural Park. “The robot is a great help.” Li Zhuohéng finds it very handy. A filled seedling tray weighs over ten kilograms. The backpack robot can carry a load of 400 kilograms and operate for 6 hours on a single charge. “For seedling raising this year, 5 workers plus 5 robots are enough.”
Debugging machines, preparing seeds and substrate soil, tidying up the seedling nursery field… Recently, Li Zhuohéng has been focused entirely on seedling raising, somewhat “neglecting” the 300 mu of winter wheat and various vegetables he planted. “Not worried, there are robots for field management too.” He swipes his phone screen, and information about field conditions, seedling status, pest situations, etc., is clearly displayed.
In the wheat field, an intelligent inspection robot works along the plots: its head is equipped with cameras and searchlights, forming “eyes”; its chest has radar to receive navigation information; its wide, stout “body” also houses data analysis systems, energy storage systems, and more. With its four wheels turning, it performs automatic, all-weather inspections in the field.
In terms of eyesight, a while ago when the wheat showed slight yellowing, Li Zhuohéng didn’t notice, but the robot spotted it first and issued a warning. Regarding experience, after the robot photographs pests, the backend system analyzes the species and generates targeted prevention plans, with an accuracy rate of over 90%. “It’s really catching up to ‘old hands’.” Li Zhuohéng said with a smile, “This year, I plan to ‘take it easy’ with farming and also entrust it with the task of monitoring seedling growth.”
How did the robots come to Li Zhuohéng’s fields? Less than two kilometers away, within the same modern agricultural park, Chengdu Xindu Lükong Agricultural Service Co., Ltd. is the “seedling nursery field” for these robots.
Lükong Agriculture has been deeply involved in green pest control technology for years and began transitioning to tackle agricultural robots in 2024. “Old Li, would you trust us to inspect your fields?” Last year, company deputy manager Wang Kang visited and extended an invitation: the robots’ research, development, and upgrades need application scenarios, and they were willing to provide services to farmers for free.
“There are drones in the sky and agricultural condition monitoring stations on the ground, what else can this robot do?” Li Zhuohéng had doubts. The question mark was soon straightened into an exclamation point: once the robot entered the field, it became a mobile, thinking monitoring station, not only collecting information with fewer blind spots and higher precision but also enabling more intelligent agricultural condition analysis.
Although the new thing is good, in Li Zhuohéng’s view, there were also quite a few “pain points”: insufficient battery life, often “paralyzed” on the inspection route; inadequate obstacle avoidance capability and stability, if it fell over, someone had to help it up. Lükong Agriculture “listened to the feedback,” analyzed data, tested improvements, added automatic charging functionality, developed a tracked version capable of working in fields, and completed 3 iterations in 8 months.
