UbiqutekGlide: An advanced electrical weed control device to be integrated with existing agricultural equipment, yielding a zero chemical, organic result at a reduced operational cost

Project Information

UbiqutekGlide

Grant agreement ID: 733687

DOI

10.3030/733687

Project closed

EC signature date 30 September 2016

Start date 1 November 2016

End date 30 April 2019

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy

Total cost

€ 1 865 045,25

EU contribution

€ 1 305 531,68

Coordinated by

UBIQUTEK LTD
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - UbiqutekGlide (UbiqutekGlide: An advanced electrical weed control device to be integrated with existing agricultural equipment, yielding a zero chemical, organic result at a reduced operational cost)

Reporting period: 2018-11-01 to 2019-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Benefiting the agricultural market, Glide will successfully control weeds, whilst reducing operational costs and the industry’s use of herbicides and replacing with an organic process that maintains soil moisture and nutrients and increases crop yield.

Weeds are controlled largely for food production due to their economic significance: the biotic stresses caused by weeds, insects and diseases cause a 31–42% loss in annual food production globally (€454bn). Herbicides account for over a third of the pesticides used in Europe; without herbicides, it is predicted food prices would increase by 40% With herbicides being legislated against due concerns over their health effects, and given increasing global food requirements, alternative weed control technology is essential in the prevention of unsustainable food inflation.

This Horizon 2020 Phase 2 project will allow us to scale up our existing prototype and gain independent and extensive trial results of the Glide technology enabling us to launch to market with the necessary evidence of efficacy.

Objectives:
1. Gather specific European target market regulatory pathway data
2. Construct and bench test up-scaled Glide design iteration
3. Gather extensive knowledge of the efficacy of Glide
4. Integrate Glide v1 into standard manufacturing platform
5. Complete 2017 field tests of v1 Glide and verification of performance to demonstrate: Fully integrated and operational energy, control and display system with all issues identified; Comprehensive evidence of technology successfully treating weeds in agricultural environment
6. Integrate Glide v2 with Steketee advanced platform
7. Complete 2018 field trials using Glide v2 to demonstrate: Fully integrated and operational energy, control and display system with all issues resolved; Independent and extensive trial results of technology successfully treating >90% inter- and intra-row weeds without damaging crops; Final design changes for mass production identified
8. Final design iteration of Glide components
9. Plan for commercialisation of Glide
10. Prepare for market launch

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

> UbiqutekGlide is less than tenth of the cost, a tenth of the weight and a tenth of the size of its predecessor. This allows multiple UbiqutekGlide systems to be integrated into one piece of weeding equipment which is pulled through a field and powered by a tractor and controlled from the tractor cab.
> Performance surpasses original requirements. Architecture designed to reach target performance for clearance of dense weeds now also in development.
> Frequencies above 18kHz are utilised as are less harmful if contact is made with a live electrode.
> Target cost has been reached.
> Advanced inter row weeder produced - including accurate servo driven side shift system to keep aligned to even closely spaced rows like baby leaf salad and cereals, visual recognition system to spot weeds, electrode delivery mechanism. Electrode design optimised for efficacy and speed.
> Over 10,000 individual weed samples were grown, treated and analysed. We are now reaching between 90% and 100% efficacy across species and conditions in the lab.
> Efficacy in dense weed patches in the field is greater than 50% and we expect this to reach greater than 90% with that architecture.
> Soil biology impact tested with earth worms in the lab – all worms were counted back out alive.
> Have a number of keen B2B partners including producers of chemical herbicides. Highest priority is integration with Steketee, with other partners to follow.
> Have completed numerous dissemination events including podcasts and radio and won several high-profile innovation awards.

The main exploitable result is the UbiqutekGlide design specification, prototypes and patents.

Since it is a new technology Ubiqutek is introducing to the market, our most important market barrier to overcome will be educating the market about the technology and its benefits in order to establish electrical weed control as a viable and real alternative to traditional and alternative weed control methods. This is going well and being helped with the recent resistance, regulation and litigate news around glyphosate encouraging the market to move away from chemical herbicides.

We expect to set the standards for using electrical methods to treat weeds, and believe will be able to achieve our ambitious goals of revenue of €37.5m pa by 2023, cumulative net profit of €49.6m and creating direct employment of 14 FTE. We project the ROI to the EC at 4.8 with breakeven at year 4 post-commercialisation.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The ultimate result of this project will bring together both novel and existing technology, to be integrated to existing agriculture platforms to create a commercially ready product for the agricultural industry that will effectively kill weeds at: a) low cost, b) without the use of chemicals, thus yielding a truly organic result. Therefore, our product will satisfy the majority of the expected outputs and meet the challenges related to ‘Resource-efficient eco-innovative food production and processing’ and the aim for a ‘Reduction of food losses’. Our technology can also be used for farming purposes other than weeding, such as thinning, to further increase yields.

Patent WO2016016627 with claims relating to high frequency parameters which have benefits for operator safety and hardware miniaturisation, plus manipulation of voltage, power, current, and duty cycle in a closed loop system to optimise efficacy. High frequencies greater than 18kHz reduces harm of contact with live electrode, allows miniaturisation of technology, and gives ability to outcompete on price. Granted in Europe, also submitted to Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil.

Patent WO2016162667, claims relating to electrical earth continuity detection which ensures safety system is operating effectively. Submitted to Europe and US.

Two further patents submitted to UK GB201903312D0 and GB201903315D0 with option to file as WIPO

Weed being zapped during efficacy testing, with Rootwave Logo

Strip of killed weeds from inter-row weeder initial testing

Photo of inter-row weeder during initial testing