Autonomous robotics, sensors and advanced computing can now help with harvesting plant data

Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated an autonomous robotic field monitoring, sampling and data-gathering system that could accelerate understanding of interactions among plants, soil and the environment.

The challenge of enhancing biomass productivity and carbon storage in bioenergy plantations requires a better understanding of how carbon cycles between soils, plants and the atmosphere. Soil carbon can be difficult to measure precisely. Current estimates place the amount of carbon locked away in soils worldwide at trillions of tons, or more than three times the amount in the atmosphere.

To speed data-gathering for better predictions of plant ...