We are living on the cusp of several revolutions; biotech, medical, nano-tech, and one that will be as world changing as the Industrial Revolution: robotics.

Factory robots are just the tip of the iceberg, coming up fast are driverless vehicles. It's not just a cute end of the newscast feature storie. This the beginning of a world where, for example, in 2030 driving a car by hand will thought of the same way people in 2015 think of riding a horse. Cute and interesting, with some very passionate hobbyists, but not a thing most people have any real experience with.

Think about what's coming for the shipping industry. Fleets of trucks hauling goods across country 24 hours a day, non-stop, controlled by robots and software that doesn't need to stop, eat, sleep and doesn't make human mistakes.

In the case of agriculture, we may soon see huge farms with one or two employees, year round. No more need for farmhands or harvest help.
In fact, that world is not just coming, it's here.

Check out this video from Matthew Reimer, who describes his YouTube channel as: "Videos of my adventures in automating farm equipment." In this video he demonstrates his autonomous tractor. He says, "[T]he tractor pulling the grain cart in the video has no one in the cab. It is controlled by an open source autopilot it can operate autonomously all day in the field without a driver." Watch as the tractor joins Reimer in the field and pulls up along side of his combine to get to work.

 

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