full ten-year battery life, with 80 per cent power potential left at that time. “I’d budget maybe $ 1000 a year for maintenance,” he says. The only other anticipated costs relate to the data sup- port systems associated with their existing pre- cision technologies. The cost of Korechi’s proto- type RoamIO has not yet been fixed since it continues to undergo changes based on feed- back from Baresich and his colleagues. The ini- tial speed of the unit, for example, was only four kilometers per hour. This is inadequate for larger fields, though not for the smaller vineyards and orchards for which it was originally designed.
Next model Haggerty Creek For Korechi, working with Haggerty Creek has been invaluable when it comes to RoamIO’s design. “Not being involved directly with agri- culture, there were uses and complications we did not foresee,” CEO Pahari says. There were so many revelations that the next model will be named after Haggerty Creek. Names aside, Ba- resich reiterates his belief that small, adaptable autonomous units offer a reasonable solution for smaller farms – ones that otherwise could
not afford larger, much more costly equip- ment, or full-time employees. “If you’re grow- ing 500 acres, it might not make sense to have a hired person full-time,” he says.
About RoamIO
RoamIO autonomous robots are developed and marketed by Ontario-based startup Ko- rechi Innovations Inc. The unit has both LiDAR and Radar, and operates using RTK. It’s controlled via a tablet, though both the tablet and the unit have their own internet signals. This, says Sougata Pahari, founder
The RoamIO robot. The steel rack shown on the current prototype was added at Hagger- ty Creek to hold an optical soil sensor and hopper for cover crop seeding.
and CEO of Korechi, helps expand the range at which RoamIO can operate. “Paths are generated on the tablet. These are sent to a relay box on the machine, and it starts mov- ing,” says Pahari. “It has a movement resolu- tion that can bring it to within five millime- ters of the specified destination within the field. Even if it’s told to go a kilometer away it still arrives within a margin of one inch.” Specifications • Speed: 6 km/hr • Powered by Lithium-ion batteries, 8-hour battery life, 3,000 to 4,000 charge cycles
• Carrying capacity: 660 pounds (300 kilo- grams)
• Average weight distribution: 3 pounds (1.4 kilograms) per square inch when load- ed with fertiliser, cover crop seed, etc.
▶ FUTURE FARMING | 20 November 2020
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