Slideshow: Drone Demonstration

Posted by Dan Jacobs|18 September 2016

Students from Virginia Tech University shared how they’ve been learning about and developing drones for use in agriculture. The demonstration took place at Chesapeake Farms as part of the Environmental Respect Awards program presented by DuPont and hosted by AgriBusiness Global and CropLife® magazines.

1 of 19

1 of 19

A Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering student prepares their custom drone for a test flight.
2 of 19

Lawrence Gaultney, Ph.D., (center) who works in DuPont's Application Technology division, looks on while Kevin Kochersberger, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech (left), who oversees the school's drone program, and one of the VT students prepare the computers that control the drones.
3 of 19

The demonstration used a pair of drones, one that identified the "weed" targets and relayed that information back to the computers that would be used to guide the spray drone.
4 of 19

Getting the scouting drone ready to deploy.
5 of 19

DuPont's Larry Gaultney talks about the company's relationship with and support of the Virginia Tech drone program.
6 of 19

Watching drone control.
7 of 19

The scout drone readies for action.
8 of 19

The scout drone begins to hunt for "weeds."
9 of 19

The scout drone.
10 of 19

Once the scout drone has located the target weeds, the spray drone, with a load of herbicide (or in this case colored water) is ready for deployment.
11 of 19

An up-close look at the drone.
12 of 19

Once the spray drone is in the air, it uses data collected from the scout drone to locate the target weeds.
13 of 19

The spray drone takes information relayed from the scout drone to find its targets.
14 of 19

The spray drone takes deadly aim.
15 of 19

The custom made spray drone deploys its "herbicide" (in this case colored water).
16 of 19

A close up of the spray drone's work. Wet spots identify spots where the "herbicide" landed.
17 of 19

Paper was used to represent weeds in the drone demonstration.
18 of 19

Following the drone demonstration attendees of the Environmental Respect Awards get a closer look at the drone created students at Virginia Tech.
19 of 19

With changes to the rules governing the use of drones in commercial entities, there was a strong interest about how these devices could be used in agriculture.

The Environmental Respect Awards program is for retail farm supply businesses who store, handle, sell, and/or apply crop nutrient and crop protection products. Not eligible are retail outlets owned by crop protection companies with an internal research & development organization. Learn more about the Environmental Respect Awards program.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2017 ERA program.