A company in Japan has its sights set on building the world's first farm run by robots.
The organization, Spread, plans to convert its current farm, the Kameoka Plant farm, into the Vegetable Factory by 2017. The current farm uses human labor and produces 21,000 heads of lettuce each day, and it plans on increasing output to 30,000 heads using robots.
The robots look like conveyor belts with arms, TECH Insider reported. They will be used for planting seeds, watering plants and trimming lettuce heads.
The farm will be an indoor facility that grows plants by using LED lights, and the crops will be grown on racks.
"Our mission is to help create a sustainable society where future generations will not have to worry about food security and food safety," spokesperson J.J. Price said. "This means that we will have to make it affordable for everyone and begin to grow staple crops and plant protein to make a real difference."
The company said in a press release that construction will begin in this spring. The project has been estimated to cost over $16 million, and Spread hopes to earn $8 million a year with the farm. They have also said that they anticipate an output of 80,000 heads of lettuce once the farm has been operating for while, according to the Daily Mail.
