The John Lewis Partnership, which is an employee-owned UK company that operates John Lewis & Partners department stores and Waitrose & Partners supermarkets, has announced a three-year trial with the Small Robot Company to test its farmbots at John Lewis Partnership’s farm in Leckford, Hampshire.

The Small Robot Company’s three small robots—Tom, Dick and Harry—will be used at the Leckford Estate to learn and test this farming technology on a one-hectare wheat field. The Leckford Estate grows produce for Waitrose & Partners.

“We’re positively thrilled to have the John Lewis Partnership and Waitrose & Partners farm on board to help us develop our robots,” says Sam Watson Jones, co-founder of Small Robot Company.

“Our Tom, Dick and Harry robots will completely transform what’s possible on the farm.”

A prototype Tom robot will start the field trial. Equipped with cameras, the 22-pound Tom robot will gather topographical data to get the lay of the land. Tom can move autonomously to obtain a pin-point accurate, plant-by-plant view of the wheat field, which leads to higher efficiency.

Once this data is collected, the Small Robot Company will develop its machine learning in a number of different scenarios, such as differentiating between weeds and terrain, while building new prototype machines in the process.

Additionally, the John Lewis Partnership’s Room Y innovation team will be provided with important insight through the trial, which will be used to support innovation at Leckford, and inform how robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) could be used further in other areas of the business.

The companies note that farming costs are rising by almost eight percent year on year, so they are optimistic that this technology could take away some of the pressure and costs within the agriculture sector, improving yields, reducing the use of chemicals and helping to apply big data in agricultural practices to drive efficiency.

The companies note that this type of innovation has the potential to increase revenues by up to 40 percent, while lowering costs by as much as 60 percent.

An AI system called Wilma will be developed using the data gathered by the prototype Tom robot. Eventually, Wilma will guide the three robots to farm autonomously.

The trial at the Leckord Estate and other farms will be used to create and test prototype versions of the precision weeding robot, Dick, and the digital planting robot, Harry.

Using machine vision to differentiate between weeds and crops, Dick will have the ability to kill weeds with lasers, while Harry will accurately punch-plant seeds individually in the ground at a uniform depth, creating a plant level map showing the exact location of each seed.

Along with delivering increased precision, efficiency and productivity, the small robots are expected to also deliver “considerable environmental benefits,” the companies say, being that they are significantly lighter than traditional farming tractors, which reduces the damage caused to soil by current farming practices.

Additionally, the small robots will be able to take care of every single plant on an individual basis, giving them the perfect level of nutrients and support, with no waste.

“This new technology could be revolutionary for British farming. It is not designed to replace human labour but instead boost productivity and increase accuracy, freeing up the agricultural workforce to focus on other important tasks,” explains Andrew Hoad, partner & head of the Leckford Estate.

“We want to be at the forefront of this, and ensure we leave our soils and environment in great shape for future generations.”