About Orchard Sprayer vs. Agricultural Drone Application Efficiency Comparison
When it comes to pesticide application efficiency, some people may argue that agricultural drones are undoubtedly more efficient.
In the field, it is easy to cover several hundred acres in a day! This is indeed true. However, in the context of orchard operations, drones typically hover over a single fruit tree for 5–10 seconds to ensure optimal spraying effectiveness.
As a result, the operational efficiency of drones in orchards is much lower than in rice or wheat fields.
Based on our understanding of actual operations, drones in orchards typically cover about 20–25 acres per day, which is still impressive compared to manual labor.
Lanjiang Orchard’s multi-functional robot uses 12 sets of dual-caliber nozzles. It sprays both sides simultaneously during operation. With a large 450L pesticide tank, it has ten times the capacity of a drone.
In addition, it uses a 16L fuel tank that allows for 6 hours of continuous operation. Unlike drones, it does not require frequent trips for refueling and recharging.
Taking Guangxi citrus orchards as an example, the robot covers an average of 3 acres per hour, making it easy to operate on 30 acres per day.
We have also developed an intelligent supply platform cluster solution for large orchards. It includes a 3000L supply vehicle that provides standardized pesticide mixing and refueling, while multiple sensors monitor the robot’s pesticide and fuel levels, as well as its location in the orchard. The intelligent back-end algorithm calculates the optimal replenishment schedule, reducing the replenishment time for each orchard robot to as little as 3 minutes. This significant improvement enables a significant increase in operational efficiency. With this solution, the robot can cover 5 acres per hour, which equates to 50 acres per day.
From this perspective, the operational efficiency of a single orchard spraying robot is slightly superior to that of a drone. However, when using our cluster solution, the operational efficiency far exceeds that of a drone. It enables faster completion of pesticide application tasks and better cost savings in terms of manual labor in the orchard.
