Rich Wurden, ex-Tesla engineer, and Kenny Lee, former Proofpoint product lead, set up Aigen. They are located in Kirkland, Washington, and their mission is to curtail the superfluous use of pesticides in agriculture. Aigen is now working on a self-operating robot, designated the Aigen Element. This robot has the capacity to traverse farms, applying its sophisticated computer vision to discern crops and any intruding vegetation. U.S. pesticide application totaled 1.1 billion lbs yearly by 2012, mostly herbicides (60%). Aigen is confident in its robots' facility to reduce the numbers.
The Aigen Element looks like a drafting table on wheels. It drives itself around fields at a speed of up to two miles per hour, using a computer vision system to identify crops and weed out unwanted plants. Equipped with two robotic arms close to the ground, it can brush away unwanted weeds which will dry out before they are able to reproduce.These robots, designed to fit the size requirements of the farming operation they are servicing, are autonomous and can run for 12-14 hours without needing to be recharged. The energy needed is provided by a lithium iron phosphate battery, combined with lightweight, flexible solar panels capable of working in the dark for approximately 4 hours, or up to 6 hours in light to moderate rain, without the need for diesel power.The company behind the robots was founded in 2020 by ex-Tesla engineer Rich Wurden and former Proofpoint executive Kenny Lee. Statistics from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show that in 2012, an estimated 1.1 billion pounds of pesticide were used in the U.S., of which, herbicides amounted to nearly 60%. Glyphosate was the most commonly used active ingredient at the time, with approximately 270-290 million pounds utilised.The beleaguered founders and their 15-person team, who have all experienced significant health issues due to prior exposure to pesticides, are determined to reduce farming dependence on harsh chemicals, particularly for global food supplies.
Coming from a family of farmers who grew sugarbeets in Minnesota, Wurden, Aigen's CTO, has seen his family's farm transition to producing sorghum and soy. At the age of 15, Wurden's pancreas abruptly stopped producing insulin, and he has long suspected that pesticide exposure, which raises the risk of diabetes, played a part. Living with type 1 diabetes, he is conscious of environmental health as he uses an insulin pump.With experience in mechanical engineering and battery technology at Tesla, where he contributed to the creation of the Model 3, Y vehicles, and Model S sedan's battery pack, entrepreneurship became an enticing prospect for Wurden.Lee, Aigen's CEO, was previously involved in cybersecurity, but though he once made the internet a safer place, he now has a renewed focus on both personal and planetary health after overcoming non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The two met in the Work on Climate Slack channel, where tech experts discussed ways to contribute to combating the climate crisis while developing their respective careers.
Farmers are looking to identify the precise moments and locations where insects are appearing so that they can be eliminated if they are a risk. They also need irrigation-related analytics to tell them if their plants are being given the right amount of water, and if certain areas of the field require more water than others. Element robots are employed for this, passing through the field and collecting data every time. At present, the system can offer what farmers refer to as a 'stand count'; evaluating how many healthy plants are in the field. The Aigen Element relies solely on solar and wind as energy sources, not requiring the power grid. In addition, the system's analytics and Artificial Intelligence/machine learning software are run on the device and not in the cloud. Thus, Lee explained, the company is capable of furnishing farmers with more comprehensive crop analytics. "With our mobile presence on the ground while we're taking weeding actions, we can do other things that no other agtech can."
The Element could also help farmers combat the labor shortage in agriculture, and maintain their crops even when the heat is too intense for people to be outside weeding. Trent Eidem, who plans to use the Aigen Element at his sugarbeet growing operation near Fargo, said that the robots have become attractive due to their potential to reduce the money he has to pay for expensive "inputs" such as herbicides. In the coming year, the company looks forward to building and supplying more robots to farmers, while also improving their capabilities. Aigen has raised about $7 million in initial funding and a grant from the state of Idaho to support the system's development. A number of tech and climate-focused seed and venture funds, such as NEA, Global Founders, Regen Ventures, Bessemer, Climate Tech VC, Cleveland Ave., and a climate fund started by ex-Meta exec Mike Schroepfer, have funded the project. NEA Partner Andrew Schoen expressed confidence in investing in Aigen due to the founders' experience in software and hardware and their ability to create an "autonomous ground robot" without first raising money. Furthermore, he noted that the robotics could address a major problem for farmers, and might open up a vast market. As per a prediction from Fortune Business Insights, the international market for pesticides, or "crop protection products," is expected to surpass $80 billion in the next nine years. Increasingly, investors consider that farming operations should use robotics, in addition to chemical inputs.
Comments