MSParc Menai Science Park, Anglesey, North Wales.
MSParc Menai Science Park, Anglesey, North Wales.
Stef Williams, CEO of Aerialworx, explained:
Developed as part of a drive toward net-zero agriculture, Green Eagle 2 represents a scalable, data-led approach to modern crop management and sustainable farming practices.
As outlined in the Phase One summary, the challenges associated with applying pesticides across large agricultural areas are significant. If you have not yet reviewed this, we would strongly encourage doing so for context. Read more about Green Eagle One – Phase One.
While the results achieved within five weeks last year were highly impressive, the system was not without its challenges. In principle, the solution functioned as intended; however, operational performance fell short of the efficiency and scalability required.
Green Eagle 2 is an advanced, fully autonomous agritech drone system designed to transform precision farming through AI-driven weed detection and targeted treatment. Building on the success of the original Green Eagle platform, it utilises a two-drone architecture—combining a high-speed scout drone for intelligent field analysis with a treatment drone for precise, on-demand intervention.
The system leverages computer vision, terrain-following capability, and autonomous mission planning to identify and treat weeds individually, significantly reducing chemical usage, operational cost, and environmental impact.
Green Eagle One was designed as a single-drone solution, integrating an onboard AI computer and vision system for weed detection alongside a payload of up to 5 litres of chemical treatment. In practice, the AI processing pipeline required sufficient time to detect and classify weeds, which necessitated slower flight speeds to avoid motion blur and ensure accurate identification. As a result, by the time classification was complete, the aircraft had often already passed the target. This significantly reduced operational efficiency and limited the system’s ability to cover large areas effectively.
“A year ago, Aerialworx took on the challenge of developing and manufacturing an autonomous agritech weed detection and treatment drone – delivering an exceptional result in just five weeks. This time, they’ve done it again.“
Pryderi Ap Rhisiart (Director, MSParc)
“For this second phase of this AgriTech Wales NetZero Farming Project, we rectified some of the more complicated challenges we encountered in phase 1.“
Dr Stefanie Williams (CEO & Founder, Aerialworx)
At this stage, we take the designs and start on the production of the individual component parts required to produce the final model.
Once all the component parts have been manufactured and the third-party components delivered, we can start on the final assembly.