AI robot helps Dutch tulip growers to fight disease

Theo the robot checks for disease (Peter Dejong/AP)

Dutch tulip growers have launched an AI-powered robot in the battle to root out disease from bulb fields as they erupt into a riot of springtime colour.

Theo — named after a retired employee at the WAM Pennings farm near the North Sea coast — trundles along rows of yellow and red tulips, checking each plant and, when necessary, killing diseased bulbs to prevent the spread of the tulip-breaking virus.