After four years acting as a 3rd party distributor of various software and hardware, and a highly experienced training school, In 2019, frustrated with existing drone-based, crop monitoring methods, they decided to develop their own smartphone app called "Skippy Scout".

Skippy Scout controls standard, off-the-shelf drones in order to improve and assist with modern crop monitoring methods.
Flying at both low and high altitudes above the field, Skippy images and analyses the crop; collecting useful data that can be shared anywhere, instantly.
This data immediately highlights any variation throughout a given crop, and can then be used to inform application rates accordingly.

Big believers in both the future of precision Ag and the important role of the Agronomist, Drone Ag sees Skippy Scout as an additional tool to add to farmers' and agronomists' arsenals - saving time and increasing efficiency in the field.

Skippy provides quick, easy and actionable data using two different flight behaviours:

  1. Scout Spheres; an intuitive field overview function; Skippy flies the drone to the centre of the crop at an appropriate height. Here it takes a quick spherical panorama of the whole crop, this image is then sent to the user's account and is viewable within 2 minutes of upload. These Sphere's can be sent to any device with internet and a web browser. Please view our Scout Sphere's tour, here
     
  2. Leaf-level analysis; the drone is flown to specific points throughout the field. At each point, the drone lowers itself to 2m above the crop, where it takes a high-resolution image, facing directly down. These leaf-level images are then uploaded and analysed with Skippy's AI, to produce a crop report which shows each image alongside its AI analysis result. These reports are processed & sent within approximately 15 minutes of upload, and the resulting data is also overlaid within the Scout Spheres interface.

With initial AI development being directed at the crops grown at Drone Ag's Headquarters in Northumberland, and with a specific focus on WOSR; Skippy's AI now provides:

  • Emergent plant counting,
  • Green area index measurements,
  • Unhealthy leaf %,
  • Flowering ratios,
  • Pod-development,
  • Ripening,
  • And Senescence.

Skippy is constantly being developed and improved upon, with an aim to include integration and analysis for as many farm management platforms, drone systems and crops as possible.

Find out more by visiting the Skippy Scout website.

 

View video below of a live demonstration:

 

Skippy Scout Live Sep 2022 from Drone Ag on Vimeo.

 

Related Organisations

Connected Content

Agriculture now generates vast amounts of data of different types and at different scales. The ownership, access, control, sharing, value, permissioning, intergration, security, safeguarding and sovereignty of this data represent multiple challenges and opportunities for the sector.

The use of robotics is rapidly developing in agriculture, with large and small autonomous vehicles becoming commercially available.

The agri-tech sector is vibrant and growing, with many exciting companies, organisations and networks are working to develop agri-tech solutions.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more commonly known as drones, are being increasingly used in agriculture to improve farming efficiency and productivity.

A range of digital technologies promise to transform agriculture, including sensing, robotics, artificial intelligence, wireless networks & IoT, big data, decision support tools, modelling, digital twins and precision farming. 

Share your ideas and experience of how to improve nutrient efficiency and reduce dependence on artificial fertilisers

Many technologies now exist to monitor land at a range from scales, from hand-held sensors and simple cameras, through tractor mounted sensors, drones, aeroplanes through to satellites.

Precision farming involves the use of GPS, sensing and control technologies to use spatial data to manage soils, crops and livestock. 

Farmers who know Drones https://www.droneag.farm https://www.skippy.farm

Lots of people and organisations take photos in agriculture, of people, landscapes, fields, buildings, machines, animals, crops, insects, plants, the natural environment or just the countryside.  

Join renowned UK farmers, tech developers, and agri-tech sector representatives for a day of on-farm discussions, networking, and demonstrations at the innovative Shimpling Park Farm in Suffolk for Agri-EPI's Annual Conference 2022 on 27th October.

Connect to farm software providers here, and share your experiences.

Skippy Scout gives unparalleled insight into your OSR crops flowering progress. It's quick, easy and gives you the information you need to make the best decisions for your crop.

Nick Allen, Soil Lead at Drone Ag, attended a very interesting and informative soil health conference a few weeks ago, held by Barclays Eagle Labs.  Nick has completed his MSc in researching soil carbon storage and is currently working through his PhD, looking at the application of remote sensing in the Agri-environment.  Below he discusses the importance of organic matter in soil. 

Drone Ag and Agrii Announce Strategic Investment to Transform Agriculture through Drone Technology