"Using magic. With intelligent software and robotics" - at Zauberzeug GmbH from Havixbeck, the proximity to magic can already be found in the company name. Founded in 2012 by computer scientist Rodja Trappe, the company is primarily active in the field of autonomous, AI-supported agricultural robotics and has set itself the task of automating tedious and, above all, time-consuming processes so that it can concentrate on the work that really matters.

The young company has probably achieved its greatest success in this context to date with the Feldfreund, a modular, AI-based and, above all, affordable agricultural robot that can be used for weeding, sowing, inspecting, analyzing or harvesting thanks to the precision tools in its protected interior. One of the outstanding features of the field friend is certainly the Learning Loop AI training software developed by Zauberzeug itself. This AI not only enables the robot to precisely differentiate between crops and weeds, which enables targeted and efficient cultivation of the farmland. Thanks to constant new input from the agricultural community, the field friend is also continuously learning and thus optimizing its skills.

The field friend originally emerged from the (Z)Uckerrübe research project in the Uckermark. Together with the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, the Leibniz Institute for Innovative Microelectronics and the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research, Zauberzeug GmbH has already been researching autonomous solutions for ecological weed control.

"The development and practical testing of the Feldfreund together with farmers show that small and medium-sized farms in particular have been lacking a cost-effective and flexible robot until now. The Feldfreund is a lightweight, easy-to-operate and safe machine that helps farmers to overcome the challenges of an increasingly ecologically oriented agriculture and at the same time achieve their economic goals," says Rodja Trappe, who has also developed a mobile robot that automatically collects horse droppings. Magical!

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