Science and Medicine Briefs

could control the tractor (pictured) at all speeds and with centimeter-level precision while the vehicle pulled a variety of implements. The team, which is supervised by Bradford Parkinson, the Edward C. Wells Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, achieved this level of control by adapting a method that they had developed for an automatic aircraft landing system in 1994. Proponents argue that precision agriculture can improve farm productivity while reducing the need for fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.

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