Citation

Shutske JM. J. Agromed. 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/1059924X.2022.2147625

PMID

36377390

Abstract

The move toward more highly automated and robotic agriculture including full autonomy, where a machine operates without a human continuously guiding and controlling its function is still in its infancy. For the reader unfamiliar with the evolving technologies in agriculture, the trade publication Future Farming1 shows the array of new devices that include field and orchard robots, autonomous tractors, "retrofit" kits to add autonomous features to traditional machines, drones, and other applications that can be a wide array of farm tasks. I recently participated in a conference planning conversation with industry-based personnel who design fully-autonomous field machinery and was reminded now (latter part of 2022), it's as if we are in the early phases of the 1960s space program where John F. Kennedy talked of the task of sending a person to the moon within the decade and returning them safely.2 This seemed unimaginable to the world in 1962. It required innovation and critical thinking about risks and benefits of what we thought science could do, but with many unknowns. Similar to today, safely sending humans to the moon was an effort that required an entirely new way of thinking, trust in science, and the ability to systematically and objectively assess and control risk to a level deemed acceptable to society.

This article provides a framing for some of the risk-related issues that we must systematically consider in the move toward increased agricultural automation including technologies such as autonomous machines, robots, or other equipment that may not be under the immediate control of a human operator. These new safety-related challenges are no more important than current agricultural safety issues. But it will be important to stay ahead of innovation and technology change so that years or decades from now we are not trying futilely to fix problems that should have been considered thoroughly today.

Language: en

Keywords

injury; safety; risk assessment; agricultural automation; autonomous machines