As the cannabis industry turns from black market sales to legalized big business, technological improvements are coming at breakneck speeds. Whether that takes the form of more sophisticated extraction methods, automated cultivation methods or delivery by drone, legalization means weed is finally making its way into the 21st century.
For Canndescent, a high-grade bud producer in Desert Springs, California, the push towards “high tech” means robotic security guards patrolling their crops after dark.
“At night guards sleep, they play video games and spend time on social media. It's fraught with human error,” Todd Kleperis, a cannabis security specialist and Chief Executive Officer of Hardcar Security, told Forbes about the benefits of robotic patrolmen.
The robots can’t actually apprehend or harm trespassers, but they can detect them and immediately report the intrusion to the farm’s owners, human security personnel, or police. Kleperis still sees the robots as an incredibly valuable as a supplement to more traditional, human security.
“If you've ever been shot at, it's very scary,” Kleperis said. “These robots can take a gunshot better than a…