“You just can’t differentiate between a robot and the very best of humans” - Isaac Asimov

In science fiction, in galaxies far away, there are usually robots and intelligent systems to manage and complete work with ultimate precision and proficiency. What was once fantasy, is quickly becoming a reality for many industries today, namely agriculture. As Isaac Asimov famously quoted, “Today’s science fiction, is tomorrow’s science fact!” The philosopher farmer Masanobu Fukuoka said “the ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” It is uncanny that both Masanobu and Asimov thoughts’ intersect when Asimov prosaically states, “You just can’t differentiate between a robot and the very best of humans.” In the realm of science fiction, where writers explore a future that is plausible but yet to be, we can see that even the humble bedrock of civilization - agriculture - must be ensconced with artificial intelligence, for society to make the necessary leap into the future.

AI Bunch Counting & Grading

Up till now, for quality to be controlled at the source, capturing yields up to a block or sub-block level, and measuring individual harvester productivity, the industry has relied on hiring bunch checkers to count and grade the produce. However, this method has made it difficult to win the war on under ripe, overripe, and missing bunches. The inconsistency of grading standards from estate to estate, and differing exactness in quality between checkers has resulted in crop quality not improving, questionable OERs at mills and losses due to penalties for poor performance unable to be enforced.

“Robots will neither be common nor very good in 2014, but they will exist,” predicted Sir Asimov. He was right. Today robots can even exist purely as lines of code, and are capable of learning at incredible speeds. Unleashing the power of this “Machine Learning (ML) & Machine Vision (MV)” has been able to provide wide range of technologies, that benefits the plantation industry. This “Artificial Intelligence” can be integrated with other improved technologies such as drones, sensors (IoTs), satellites, digital handheld computers, and advanced cameras, turning them in to solutions that help to drive improvements in quality, productivity & yield.

is the FFBQQ+ which is embedded into ABS Innovations (ABSi) PMMP FFBQQ Module for quantitative and qualitative control. The AI can count up to 15 bunches laid flat, and assigning a quality grade from the appearance of the bunches (color and morphology) this finally standardizes grading and counting operations, to ensure consistent and honest result of FFB Grading and Counting are being performed at the platform and ramp. Finally the adage from the Ancient Roman historian, Pliny the Elder, can come to pass, “The master’s eye is the best fertilizer”. However, it is not just in crop quality that the master of the plantation needs to delegate to cast his eye.

AI Facial Recognition for Attendance

A more familiar use case of AI or Machine Vision in many industries in the post-covid world today is in identifying people through Facial Recognition Technology. The AI in Facial Recognition systems serves to quickly identify people accurately and dispassionately, so when using this for daily worker attendance at the morning muster and while using handheld devices to take attendance in the field we can quickly ensure that estate’s operation are being completed by the right workers, at the right place doing the right activity, at the right time.

Facial Recognition has also very quickly addressed the trouble of ghost workers that have been haunting estates for generations. Ghost workers are harmful to plantations due to drops in productivity, wastage in support and infrastructure, work quality and work completion inconsistency and most harmful of all to business profits, as costs are expanded but work is not being completed.

During Morning Musters there will no longer be shouting and calling worker names, instead self-serve attendance with Facial Recognition saves estates operation time, and provides an opportunity to use Muster sessions for more beneficial activities such as safety briefing, performance review and motivational training. It will ultimately allow for workers to reach the fields earlier and have longer productive days.

AI Drone Decision Support System

Besides quality and employee attendance, it would be preferable if the master could also cast his eye over his entire plantation.

While obtaining photographs and other such digital imagery has been available since the advent of satellites, the automation of studying the photos to identify findings both good and bad, and using software to stitch the photos together into a single map has been a long time coming, and is still largely being done manually. So while companies may boast that they have the latest in terms of drones, they would be hard pressed to share to their shareholders the ROI from buying the technology but being unable to show real creation of value to the bottom-line.

The AI of the PMMP Drone Decision Support System (DDSS) is able to stitch all drone captured images, while also being able to study the images and detect, blank spots or vacant points, unhealthy and dead palms, count trees, and where necessary and predict the most suitable terracing. Once identified, the AI brain will recommend the best courses of action to the plantation manager and tabulate and track these decisions in a dashboard. The DDSS does the work of deciding what action needs to be taken, and where and by when, and to keep checking whether it’s been done has been automated and refined by using AI technology.

“The master’s eye is the best fertilizer” - Pliny the Elder

Intelligence Empowered Plantations

Pulitzer Prize winner, Junot Diaz, had this to say about Science Fiction, “When you look at a lot of science fiction (novels), they’re asking questions about power. About what it means to have power, and what are the long-term consequences of power.” While AI and robots are no longer confined to the realm of science fiction, we can safely conclude that it is inevitable that the parties who embrace AI and robotics to enhance and augment plantations to be more intelligent, will also become more powerful players in the industry and even in the nations and communities they operate in.

However, as with any part of human history when winds of change are bellowing, it is expected that many are frightened by what the advent of AI and robots will do? Will it mean many jobs are lost? Will our personal data be safe? Can we trust a line of code with poisons and fertilizers? “… (In the future), a robot will likely be on the cover of the Time Magazine as the best CEO,” is the optimistic view of Jack Ma. He and many business leaders are of the view that machines will partner and cooperate with humans, not becoming their enemies. While the plantation industry is still new to the task of adopting these new technologies, it can take heart that companies like ABS Innovations are here to ensure that science fiction, becomes science fact.

Remember... it’s not how much you plant, its how you plant, and with AI... It’s how smart you plant.
- Deputy Managing Director of ABS Innovations Sdn Bhd (ABSi)