AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS ▶▶▶
tractors have been in use for years, but you al- ways needed to stay within sight of the ma- chine. With a 5G connection, a tractor can be driven remotely from anywhere, even hun- dreds of kilometres away.” The low latency of 5G is said to provide an immediate response and feedback, while the use of a virtual reality headset connected to the vision system gives the remote operator the feeling of being pres- ent on the tractor while sitting in a quiet and comfortable environment with none of the pitching and rolling that are characteristic of real tractor driving. Pioneers of self-driving technology chose the humble crop cart tractor as the ideal guinea pig, giving harvester operators the power to call up a unit for unloading grain without a driver needing to be present at all times. It’s ef- fectively an extension of the remote control available to combine operators today to accu- rately position and co-ordinate the speed of the tractor and cart beneath the unloading spout. Grain chaser manufacturer Kinze was among the first to introduce self-driving tech- nology, which led to a system that could oper- ate with multiple combines and multiple carts in the same field. When a combine needed to off-load on the move, the system would auto- matically select the tractor and cart outfit that could meet that call most efficiently. Today, Kinze has paused development “due to weak agricultural market conditions and many farmers not quite being ready for fully autono- mous technology.” But precision farming specialist Raven Indus- tries is more optimistic, acquiring Smart Ag,
Fendt’s GuideConnect provides a communications link for ‘follow me’ operation of two tractors by a single operator.
the company behind the AutoCart system, to add to its Raven Autonomy portfolio. “Smart Ag was founded with the vision of becoming the autonomous farming platform of choice in a driverless future,” says Dan Rykhus of Raven Industries. “Autonomy in agriculture is the fu- ture of farming and Smart Ag has developed retrofit kits to automate farm equipment as well as a platform to connect, manage and safely operate autonomous agricultural ma- chinery.” Raven has also acquired the DOT be- spoke autonomous implement carrier, which is big enough to operate regular-sized equip- ment such as a 10 m³ (287 ft³) New Leader crop nutrient applicator, a 6000-litre (1600 gal), 36 m (120 ft) Pattison sprayer and a 9 m SeedMaster grain drill.
Future for autonomous vehicles? It’s already happening in the livestock sector where manufacturers such as Lely, Kuhn, Trio- let, Jeantil and Lucas-G sell fully automated feeding systems and self-driving feeders, with Lely also moving into the field by explor- ing a concept for a self-driving grass harvest- er for zero-grazing delivery of fresh grass to housed cattle. But the transition to new forms of power unit for tillage farming – such as the DOT – will take time before it reaches a substantial scale. In the meantime, manufacturers with huge in- vestments in infrastructure for producing tra- ditional tractors will surely focus their efforts on giving them sophisticated self-driving capability and management.
Compared with yard-based automatic feeding systems, Lely’s experi- mental Exos grass harvester has the added challenge of operating in and travelling to and from nearby fields.
10 ▶ FUTURE FARMING | 20 November 2020
With their regimented layouts, orchards and vineyards provide a helpful environment for autonomous vehicles like this Jacto Arbus sprayer.
PHOTO: LELY
PHOTO: JACTO
PHOTO: AGCO
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