Robots, AI to ease labor shortages in agricultural sector

This provided photo shows a worker in a vest-type wearable robotic device in a demonstration in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province. Courtesy of Gwangyang City

By Bahk Eun-ji

The shortage of agricultural workers has become a chronic headache for Korean farmers as the nation ages due to the continuing decline in birthrates. Farmers are even finding it difficult to complete seasonal harvesting.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the shortage. The labor-intensive agricultural sector suffered as a consequence of the pandemic which has almost put a halt on international travel for migrant workers.

Facing the worsening labor situation, some local municipalities are now looking to robots or Artificial Intelligence (AI) to replace the absent human workforce.

The Chungcheongnam-do Provincial Office in South Cheongcheong Province recently introduced "a cooperative robot" for agriculture and fishery.

Cooperative robot refers to AI-based technology designed to reduce human labor in agricultural fields, with livestock and in fisheries.

As the agricultural and fishery robots currently are not sophisticated enough to perform various tasks independently, the provincial government is mulling over the use of robots that are operated with assistance from humans.

Due to the characteristics of the South Chungcheong region ― the nation's leader in agriculture, livestock, and fishery industries ― the provincial government said the cooperative robots are expected to have a large effect on the farming business.

"The cooperative robot for agriculture and fishery will make a decisive contribution to solving the manpower shortage and improving farmers' income," said an official of the provincial office's future industry bureau.

"The size of the global robot market is expected to grow to 140 trillion ($1.17 billion) in 2024 from 65 trillion in 2018. In a sense, collaborative robots for agribusiness are a valuable technology not only to solve the labor shortage in rural areas, but also to be nurtured as an emerging industry for the region," he said.

There are various cooperative robots for agriculture and the fishery industry that the provincial office is planning to introduce.

In an orchard, for example, when farmers pick fruit such as apples, pears, and peaches, a cooperative robot can help the workers by carrying the harvested fruits to the warehouse and returning to repeat the task.

This supplied photo shows a researcher using a robotic device to analyze fruit and vegetable growth information at the International Agricultural Expo in Naju, South Jeolla Province, Oct. 21, 2021. Courtesy of Jeollanam-do Agricultural Research and Extension Services

Kim Hyun-deok, a researcher of the Korea Information and Communication Industry Institute, who proposed to the local government the possible use of robotic solutions, said, "Similar robots are already being introduced in logistics warehouses and service fields."

"It will allow elderly farmers to work with less effort," Kim said.

Recently, Hyundai Rotem introduced a wearable robotic device for the agriculture industry, jointly developed by Hyundai Motor.

In the case of a vest-type wearable robot, it is effective in relieving arm and shoulder fatigue when the arms are raised for long periods of time.

The company expects that the agricultural wearable robotic devices will help farmers harvest fruit from tall trees and carry heavy crops.

The agricultural technology center of Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province held a demonstration for the introduction of such wearable robotic devices on Jan. 18.

The wearable robot devices that Gwangyang City displayed during the demonstration were of three types: fork-type to assist with lifting objects from the floor to waist height, vest-type that assists in reaching upward, and chair-type to help support the wearer's posture when in a sitting position.

The city expects that the wearable robotic devices will ease farmers' workloads in crop cultivation and harvesting, and distribution of agricultural products.

"We will do our best to create a sustainable and competitive agricultural and rural environment even in the post-pandemic era by preemptively introducing scientific farming with the expectation that smart agriculture will spread to the region's overall agriculture business," said an official of the agricultural technology center.

Jeollanam-do Agricultural Research and Extension Services in Haenam County, South Jeolla province exhibited an agricultural robot that can automatically collect and analyze fruit and vegetable growth information at the International Agricultural Expo.

The robot is a technology that combines artificial intelligence and an image sensor to recognize the detailed development of crops and automatically measure their growth.

In particular, the research institute has been studying to improve the accuracy and usability of cropping and production forecasting, focusing on fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, melons, paprika, and strawberries.

According to the research institute, big data collection of fruits and vegetables can be used in various fields such as production volume, harvest timing prediction, and pest diagnosis, but it relied on field work by experts.

The institute has been interested in the development of digital agricultural technology since 2014, and has been conducting research on automatically collecting and analyzing weather conditions and crop growth information using images for the first time in the country.

"Growth data, which is the core constituent of agricultural big data, has been collected only by a professional research personnel, but robots can reduce labor and secure objective data," said Jung Soo-ho a researcher at the institute.