“We must ensure that 5G narrows rather than widens the digital divide and that rural Americans receive the benefits that come from wireless innovation,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement.

The 5G Fund will be available through “reverse auction,” and it will replace the $4.5 billion Mobility Fund Phase II, which was meant to expand 4G LTE service in underserved areas.

The FCC also acknowledged an investigative report, which found that carriers were inflating their 4G LTE coverage maps. As you may remember, Microsoft came to this conclusion last year. Now, the Commission says it will take steps to make sure that, going forward, coverage data is accurate.

“FCC staff conducted thousands of speed tests to measure network performance and concluded that the MF-II coverage maps submitted by certain carriers likely overstated each provider’s actual coverage and did not reflect on-the-ground experience in many instances,” the FCC said in a press release.

The FCC has invested heavily in expanding rural broadband access. Most recently, it approved another $137 million to bring high-speed internet to 36,579 homes and businesses over the next decade. That funding was part of the Connect America Fund Phase II.

For rice farmers, ducks have been a viable way to keep their crops healthy — they destroy weeds, eat bugs and fertilize crops without using harmful chemicals. And now, a Nissan technician might have an alternative when fowl isn’t an option. He’s testing a robot ‘duck’ that roams rice paddies, muddying the water to prevent weeds from getting enough sunlight to grow — it’s really a Roomba (and a cute one at that) for watery fields. Although it’s a personal project, it’s fully realized with GPS, a WiFi connection and solar power to minimize its environmental impact.

The weeding robots could prove to be a major help for Michigan farmers. The autonomous vehicles will be designed to perform high-precision weeding and thinning and will be able to operate around the clock, saving farmers from having to perform the time-sucking tasks. The bots will also be built to seamlessly adapt to different crops as they move through the farm.

While the partnership between FarmWise Labs and Roush may end up creating an important new tool for farmers, automation on the farm isn’t a new idea. Many farms utilize robots to perform tasks like seeding, fertilization and chemical application. In 2017, researchers in England even managed to sow and harvest a field of barley using nothing but robots. Farms across the US and in other countries have come up short on production when there aren’t enough laborers on hand to perform the necessary tasks. Autonomous bots might be able to once again bridge the gap between the supply and demand.