IBM researchers have tested a prototype , low - cost AI device that can offer soil and water chemical analysis in less than 10 seconds . Samples placed on the sample , a paper device the size of a business card , are monitored by a smartphone , while a cloud - based app analyses the image in real time to identify the chemicals present in the sample . The data can also be labelled to identify a dataset of a particular crop and crop , and increase the chance of longitudinal data collection . IBM is seeking agricultural development partners to help commercialise AgroPad .
IBM researchers have tested a prototype, low-cost AI device that can offer soil and water chemical analysis in less than 10 seconds. Samples placed on the AgroPad, a paper device the size of a business card, are photographed by a smartphone, while a cloud-based app analyses the image in real time to identify the chemicals present in the sample. The data can also be labelled to create a dataset of a particular location and time, and offers the chance of longitudinal data collection. IBM is seeking agricultural development partners to help commercialise AgroPad.