How AI Happens AI Drones in Agriculture with Precision AI's Heather Clair
In this episode, Heather shares her background in both farming and commerce, and explains how her in-field experience and insights aid both her and the AI team in the development cycle. We learn about the advantages of drone-based precision spraying, the function of the herbicides that Precision AI’s drones spray onto crops, and the various challenges of creating AI models that can recognize plant variations.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing Heather Clair, Product Manager at precision.ai.
- Heather’s background in farming and commerce; and what led her to precision.ai.
- precision.ai’s dramatically different approach to agriculture.
- The advantages of drone-based precision spraying, as opposed to land-based high-clearance spraying.
- The function of the herbicides that precision.ai’s drones spray onto crops.
- precision.ai’s use of AI to teach their drones to identify crops and distribute herbicides with precision.
- The relationship between Heather, as product manager, and the AI experts at precision.ai.
- Heather’s involvement in the development cycle.
- Sama’s reliable accuracy rate.
- The challenge of creating AI models that recognize and can work with plant variations.
- How the varying colors of soil impact the AI models.
- The phenomenon of phenoplasticity and the challenge it presents to the AI team.
- The advantage Heather has of having in-field experience.
- Heather’s closing tip: how to have happier, healthier houseplants.
Tweetables:
“Up until now, everybody just went, ‘How do we get more efficient [with] fewer passes?’ But nobody questioned, ‘Are we doing the passes with the right equipment?’” — Heather Clair [0:07:07]
“[precision.ai is] moving from land-based high-clearance sprayers to drone-based precision spraying.” — Heather Clair [0:07:24]
“I never thought when I was a little farm kid that I would be playing with drones, but it is one of my favorite things to do.” — Heather Clair [0:07:45]
“Trying to create these AI models that can work on any stage of plant can be a challenge.” — Heather Clair [0:21:15]
“It's incredible how working with my AI team has opened up my eyes to being able to look at these plants from a very logical standpoint.” — Heather Clair [0:25:34]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: