Frank Vinlaun for Xconomy:  Drones are opening up the skies to farmers who want better ways to monitor their crops. But even though flying a drone over a field is less labor-intensive than walking through one, Reese Mozer says that current drones still take too much time and effort for farmers to use.

Mozer, founder and CEO of American Robotics, is developing drone technology whose automated capabilities could take the piloting controls out of the farmer’s hands.

“We don’t want our customers to worry about piloting,” he says. “We just want them to focus on the data.”

Boston-based American Robotics is announcing today that it has raised $1.1 million in seed funding to support further development of its drone technology. Angel investors led the round, which included participation from Brain Robotics Capital, a fund focused on companies working in artificial intelligence, robotics, and Internet-of-things technologies.  Full Article: