Soon, however, the sight of tractor and farmer hard at work together, preparing the land and harvesting the crops, may be as out of date as the horse-drawn plough from the age of Robert Burns. For the age-old relationship of man, machine and land is set to be broken with the arrival in Scotland of the first fleet of robot tractors. Driverless'Agbot' tractors, due to arrive in Scotland within weeks, have been described as a gamechanger for agriculture, with the ability to work solo, 24-hours a day and to precise standards – raising the potential that they can help solve a crippling labour shortage crisis which has left farmers and growers scrabbling for staff. Because they are significantly lighter than a traditional tractor – and, as hybrid vehicles, use less diesel - they are also being touted as a greener option, offering a solution to soil compaction caused by huge vehicles which trample the land and which can lead to flooding, degradation and lower yields. While, by freeing up time that would normally be spent in the driver's seat, the vehicles – programmable several months in advance - allow farm staff to concentrate on other areas of increasingly diversified businesses, such as running farm shops, tourist accommodation and food production.

Xinghua, China (Reuters) - A brand new combine harvester buzzes up and down a field in eastern China without a driver on board, chopping golden rice stalks and offering a glimpse of what authorities say is the automated future of the nation's mammoth agricultural sector. The bright green prototype was operating last autumn during a trial of driverless farm equipment as the government pushes firms to develop within 7 years fully-automated machinery capable of planting, fertilizing and harvesting each of China's staple crops - rice, wheat and corn. That shift to automation is key to the farming sector in the world's No.2 economy as it grapples with an ageing rural workforce and a dearth of young people willing to endure the hardships many associate with toiling on the land. Other countries like Australia and the United States are taking similar steps in the face of such demographic pressures, but the sheer scale of China's farming industry means the stakes are particularly high in its drive to automate agriculture. "Automated farming is the way ahead and demand for it here is huge," said Cheng Yue, general manager of tractor maker Changzhou Dongfeng CVT Co Ltd, which provided an autonomous vehicle that was also used at the trial in the rice field in Xinghua, a county in the eastern province of Jiangsu.

India's Mahindra & Mahindra, one of the biggest suppliers of smaller tractors to the U.S., and other manufacturers are racing to develop what they see as the future of farming: robo-tractors and other farming equipment to help produce more food, more sustainably at a lower cost. John Deere has tractors and combines on the market that free the driver in the cabin from the actual driving so he or she can monitor the crops and adjust pesticide, water and soil levels. Technology from Agco Corp.'s Fendt lets several driverless tractors follow a lead tractor driven by a human. Japanese firms Kubota and Yanmar are planning to launch driverless tractors that they expect to be popular with elderly farmers. The next generation is tractors that can drive entirely by themselves.

Driverless tractors, combine harvesters and drones have grown a field of crops in Shropshire in a move that could change the face of farming. The autonomous vehicles followed a pre-determined path set by GPS to perform each task, while the field was monitored by scientists using self-driving drones. The project, called hands Free Hectare, began with autonomous tractors drilling channels to precise depths for the barley seeds to be planted. The tractor was also used to plant seeds and spray fungicides, herbicides, and fertilisers. An automated combine harvester then harvested the field of barley.

The next generation of driverless tractor has been put through its paces in Southampton. The Ordnance Survey, where the tractor was tested, has been working with CNH Industrial to develop new pinpoint-accurate mapping technology needed to let tractors drive by themselves. The technology paves the way for meeting the mapping and tracking requirements for driverless cars. More and more car and technology firms have been partnering up to develop self-driving vehicles. Aside from pioneer Google, companies like Tesla are also developing the technology, while Chinese car and tech firms have also made significant progress.

We have all heard about autonomous cars. Elon Musk, Uber, and a host of other individuals and organizations have been working on them for years. Also, we have autonomous big-rigs. Then, of course, there are the autonomous buses (no, seriously). Now, we have a new kind of driverless transport… a farm tractor.

Agriculture is considered a prime area of potential growth in the drone industry because of the technology's ability to help survey crops and gather real-time information on farmland. Crop-spraying drones or easy-to-fly devices that are designed to spray pesticides on crops, can also capture high resolution images of whole field for further analysis. Effect of crop-spraying drone usage is massive. Drones can take off and land vertically which means unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) sprayer does not need a runway. They are suitable for all kinds of complex terrain, crops and plantations of varying heights.

The global population is expected to reach 9 billion people by 2050, which means double agricultural production in order to meet food demands. Farm enterprises require new and innovative technologies to face and overcome these challenges. Artificial intelligence robotics is one of these technologies that promises to provide a solution. An increasing number of farmbots are being developed that are capable of complex tasks that have not been possible with the large-scale agricultural machinery in the past. Here's a list of real use cases of robots that will help agriculture changing.