Tom J. Bechman PREPARE TO LAUNCH: A technician checks final settings on this autonomous Dot fertilizer applicator before turning it loose to apply fertilizer on 40 acres at the Farm Progress Show site near Boone, Iowa. Ag engineers from across the country look at the opportunities and challenges associated with robots in agriculture. For someone who once rode on a Massey-Harris 44 tractor with a two-row mounted cultivator with his dad, it was an almost unbelievable scene. A technician stood by a large, self-propelled fertilizer application machine. The Dot applicator, powered by Raven technology, was going to broadcast phosphorus and potassium fertilizer per prescription on 40 acres after corn harvest. Once the technician was assured settings were right, he would step away, and the machine — with no one aboard — would complete the task.