Smart cities are a hot topic; how smart cities will improve urban life by tackling urban challenges with the help of the Internet of Things and other technologies. Due to urbanization, cities are getting less safe, energy-efficient and clean. The UN estimates that by 2050 66% of the population will live in cities (Thales Group, 2020). Therefore, it is crucial for cities to enhance city life by making them ‘smart’. As the second largest city of the Netherlands, Rotterdam should follow this trend.
Rotterdam has already started with the implementation of a smart city design with the introduction of the Rotterdam Innovation District initiative. This initiative focusses on the improvement of seven bustling areas in Rotterdam by creating a smart infrastructure with renewable energy and green spaces (Appleton, 2020). For example, rain sensors have been installed in Rotterdam which prioritizes cycling traffic over other vehicle traffic when its raining (Schiller, 2016).
Rotterdam plans to invest €233 million in the smart city development of Rotterdam. As a smart city, Rotterdam can optimize its transportation system by tracking traffic congestion real-time. Next to that, the energy distribution can be advanced. City lights that adapt their light intensity to movement, for instance, can be installed. Smart cities can increase efficient trash collection as well with the use sensors in trash containers. This and many other examples are opportunities for Rotterdam as a smart city (Lake, 2019).
Unfortunately, the smart city development of Rotterdam goes hand in hand with severe risks. Perhaps the most significant one concerns privacy. As enormous amounts of data are collected with smart cities, citizens are concerned that this will cost them their privacy; data will be collected from mobile devices, sensors, cameras et cetera. The risks in securing smart cities comes alongside this. The entire infrastructure will have the ability to be hacked or experience system failure. Therefore, cybersecurity will be an essential challenge Rotterdam will have to take into account. However, at the same time smart cities also increase public safety, as crimes and offenses can be predicted (Lake, 2019).
With the Rotterdam Innovation District initiative Rotterdam has taken the first step in becoming a smart city. As a smart city, Rotterdam can optimize its infrastructure, mobility, public services and city life (Thales Group, 2020). As a strong, vibrant and always developing city, Rotterdam will undergo smart city development.

References
Appleton, J. (2020). Smart city Rotterdam: A leading light in smart innovation. [online] Available at: https://hub.beesmart.city/city-portraits/smart-city-rotterdam-a-leading-light-in-smart-innovation
Lake, J. (2019). Smart cities, cybersecurity and privacy: What are the risks? [online] Available at: https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/smart-cities-privacy-risks/#:~:text=Major%20areas%20of%20concern%20include,grinding%20cities%20to%20a%20halt
Schilller, B. (2016). When it rains, Rotterdam’s bikers get to go through lights faster. [online] Available at: https://www.fastcompany.com/3055334/when-it-rains-rotterdams-bikers-get-to-go-through-lights-faster at 28-09-2020
Thales Group (2020). Secure, sustainable smart cities and the IoT. [online] Available at: https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/markets/digital-identity-and-security/iot/inspired/smart-cities

Artificial Intelligence is a driving force in the rising popularity and usage of robotics in multiple industries. For the agriculture industry, it can be said that robots will revolutionize the industry.
With the use of robotics, the agricultural industry can operate more efficiently and effectively. Robots have a higher workload capacity and can complement farmers. Implementing robotics reduces manual labour and increases productivity, efficiency and the quality of products. For example, with the help of robotic products harvesting cycle times can be minimized and fertilization can be done more efficienctly (King, 2017). Environmental impact can also be reduced, as less water and pesticides will have to be used with the help of robotics (Tibbetts, 2019).
There are four robotics that will revolutionize the agricultural industry. As farming requires a lot of heavy physical labour with routine tasks, robots can mitigate the tasks of a farmer. Exoskeletons are robots that support farmers in their daily tasks, easing their labour intensive activities. Next to that, weed pullers can be used to increase productivity and provide a high quality of weed as the health and maturity of the weed are taken into account. Weed pullers are robots that will be able to remove weeds only once they’re mature as it can scan the center of the crops and recognize its maturity. Fruit picking robots are able to pick fruits exactly when they’re ripe without damaging the fruit. Fruit picking is a difficult task as fruits can easily be bruised. In the United Kingdom a strawberry harvesting robot has been developed, reducing the labour intensity and increasing the velocity of picking strawberries. Another robot that revolutionizes farming are drones. Drones help to monitor crops and create 3D maps from high spatial resolution. With drones farmers can work more effectively and precisely (Lallensack, 2019) (Power and Motion World, 2019).
However, the development of robotics is error-prone and requires high investments. Another threat is that robots could replace farmers completely and many jobs will be lost (van Hooijdonk, 2018). Therefore, the implementation of robotics in farming is expected to be gradual, but it will revolutionize farming. All of the above robotic systems will play a major role in the way the agricultural industry is going to change.

References:
Hooijdonk, van R. (20180). The future may be more about working alongside cobots than about machines taking all our jobs. [online]. Available at: https://www.richardvanhooijdonk.com/blog/en/the-future-may-be-more-about-working-alongside-cobots-than-about-machines-taking-all-our-jobs/
King, A. (2017). The future of agriculture. Nature, 544(7651), S21-S23. KPMG. (2018). Agribusiness Summer 2018 – Agricultural Disruption: Traditional agriculture is increasingly being disrupted by new technology. [online] Available at: https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/ie/pdf/2018/05/ie-agribusiness-report.pdf
Lallensack, R. (2019). Five roles robots will play in the future of farming. [online] Available at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/five-roles-robots-will-play-future-farming-180973242/#:~:text=From%20picking%20fruit%20to%20pulling,bringing%20precision%20farming%20to%20life&text=Farmers%20have%20always%20been%20diligent,milk%20an%20individual%20cow%20produces.&text=Farmers%20can%20use%20the%20same,are%20integrated%20into%20other%20industries.
Power and Motion World (2019). Robotics and agriculture, how robots will change farming. [online] Available at: https://powerandmotionworld.it/en/2019/12/02/robotics-changing-the-future-of-agriculture/
Tibbetts, J. (2019). Agricultural Disruption. BioScience, 69(4), pp.237-243.