Peter Corke and his huge team at QUT are doing great stuff in this area. They have spot-spraying robots, that zap only weeds and fertilize only crops, and also a great device that just mechanically smashes up weeds one-by-one.
Peter has an admirable ability to choose projects and deliver the goods on them. Robotics needs more like him.
Peter has an admirable ability to choose projects and deliver the goods on them. Robotics needs more like him.
Interview with Corke on this subject:
http://robohub.org/robots-zero-tillage-robotics/
Homepage with free stuff including books and MOOC:
http://petercorke.com/wordpress/
edit: I'm not affiliated with QUT and have no conflict of interest. I'm an academic that does related work but not in agriculture.