This is the first model of an intended series of three robots with 75, 143 and 211 hp,respectively. They will initially have diesel engines, but no power source is ruled out.
Coupling the old-fashioned way Coupling implements is and will remain manual work and is (almost) the same as it always was. Before you do this, you determine which set of tracks you want to use for the job. Triangular tracks 300, 400, 620, 760 and 910 mm wide are possible. However, with the latter tracks the ve- hicle is wider than 3 m. With a forklift you detach the tracks from the electric drive to change them. The track width is mechanically adjustable from 2.25 to 3.2 m. The latter is mainly intended for organic and controlled traffic farming. You then manoeuvre the robot tractor with the re- mote control and operate the 3-tonne front or 8-tonne rear linkage remotely or via the buttons on the side panel to attach the implement. Con- nect the Isobus plug, the PTO and/or the electri- cal cables, and, in this case, the coolant lines. The engineers have come up with a very clever transport solution. An axle with two wheels and a drawbar connect to the vehicle via two central tubes, so that you can attach it as a trailer be- hind your (manned) tractor. This way, you can also transport multiple Agbots in one go. Imple- ment(s) are lifted on top of the robot. Once in the field, you fold up the drawbar and axle, fire
up the engine and put the implement into work- ing position with the buttons on the side panel or with the remote control, and leave the robot do its job.
Safety above all
Safety is crucial with autonomous opera- tions, also on enclosed grounds. In the Ag- Xeed robot tractor, this is built in to the hard- ware such as the vehicle ECU, the sensors and the remote control. But the LiDAR sensor that is placed on top and the ultrasonic sen- sor that provides phased obstacle detection are also accredited for autonomous work without supervision. That makes them diffi- cult to obtain and very expensive. If the sen- sors detect an obstacle, you will receive a no- tification on your smartphone and you can view the surroundings via cameras. If the ro- bot can continue, you just give that com- mand remotely. If that is not possible, you have to go on site for a restart. And of course, you can remotely see whether the diesel,
Next year, ten robots will be working at select- ed European farms and in 2022 AgXeed hopes to market a pre-series of their robot tractor for € 249,500.
Sensors and other hardware are accredited for autonomous work without supervision.
spray tank and/or seed tank are empty. Ther- mal, radar and visual cameras will follow in the future for, among other things, naviga- tion and data collection related to crop and soil conditions.
▶ FUTURE FARMING | 20 November 2020 47
PHOTO: MARGRIET NIJENHUIS
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