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Tag Archives autonomous machinery — page 2

Operators can monitor and control the autonomous machine through a mobile device.
Machinery

Autonomous tillage and haying

Lemken and Krone partner on multi-functional robotic system development

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Glacier FarmMedia – As more attention is turned toward autonomous field operations, even companies that haven’t been known for offering powered systems are revealing their efforts to produce self-propelled robotic equipment.  Tillage equipment producer Lemken recently announced it had partnered with forage-focused Krone (both companies are based in Germany) to create an autonomous power unit […] Read more
Uptime for robotics depends on humans getting input delivery right.
Machinery, News

Precision field logistics

Succeeding with autonomous machinery in row crops requires focus on getting inputs and equipment to the field at the moment it’s needed

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Logistics carry the day, not tactics – or so goes the military adage.  However true on the battlefield, the saying also has resonance in crop production. It holds true for autonomous field implements, just as it has for analog equipment, though tech developers don’t always get the message right away. Why it matters: Field robots […] Read more
A Solinftec unit watches over a soybean crop.
Machinery

Scouting robot seeks validation

Every day the robot lurks in fields, watching, seeing all and recording every event, searching for anomalies

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Glacier FarmMedia – Another agricultural robot is roaming Canadian fields. Brazilian-based Solinftec uses artificial intelligence to guide its robot’s motion in fields, and to analyze the images of crops it captures as it travels autonomously along crop rows. Leo Carvalho of Solinftec said the Solix Ag robot scans for crop health and nutrition, disease, insects […] Read more
Sougata Pahari (r) and Jim Clark (l) of Korechi Innovations, pictured with one of their company’s prototype RoamIO robots at Haggerty Creek in 2020. The robot design was the foundation of a larger farm platform now used by the Bothwell business.
Machinery

Why is Ontario a hub for ag tech development?

Diversity of industry, prolific expertise and other factors help propel innovation

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Robotics and autonomous equipment are taking the agriculture sector by storm, or at least appear poised to do so in some areas. For technology developers in Ontario, a diverse economic environment and comparatively large pool of expertise have helped make the province one of many artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics development hubs. Daniel Bath, research […] Read more
Raven’s Omnipower 3200 will work with earlier SeedMaster implements, but the company is focusing on spraying and spreading operations and developing options with CNH, its new parent company.
Machinery

Raven releases a more robust robot

Omnipower units remain compatible with existing attachments as CNH considers further autonomous options

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Glacier FarmMedia – Raven’s Omnipower agricultural robot now has more power and a better controls system. “We’ve beefed up the frame and some of the structural elements to allow that extra power to be handled by the frame. There’s a redesigned caster wheel system and we put higher flotation, higher weight capacity tires on,” said […] Read more
John Deere is planning to have its autonomous 8R tractor at dealers in 2022.
Machinery, News

Opinion: Autonomous choices grow for farm machinery

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John Deere’s recent announcement that it will be selling autonomous 8R tractors for tillage this year elicited a not-surprising reaction from farmers. It was a mixed response, as is often the case for new technology, especially technology that might significantly change something they’ve been doing and, in many cases, liked doing, for generations. This isn’t […] Read more
Multi-purpose autonomous equipment such as Raven’s OMNiPOWER platform and AutoCart are being tested along with other autonomous equipment such as weeding robots by a new collaborative working group. It aims to find the successes and fix any flaws so that it may be commercialized sooner.
Machinery, News

Bothwell business establishes autonomous working group

Haggerty Creek Ltd. expands applied research into farm robotics

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Autonomous equipment is not a new pursuit for the team at Haggerty Creek Ltd.  It established an autonomous working group in 2021 and now the elevator, equipment dealer and ag-service provider hopes to push the development of autonomous field technologies further through collaborative field research.  “We started the working group so we could coordinate our […] Read more
Sprout is an autonomous multipurpose robot that uses its vision and artificial intelligence systems to identify and select asparagus spears ready for harvest. It uses its robotic arm to cut asparagus at the ground level without damaging the spears.
Crops, News

UK start-up hopes to bring asparagus harvesting robot to Canada

International innovation partnerships open new doors for bringing technologies to North America

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An emerging network of international partnerships has resulted in a United Kingdom-based agri-tech start-up looking to bring its automated asparagus harvesting robot to Canada.  Muddy Machines is in the first cohort of a virtual residency program focused on advanced manufacturing technology. It is hosted by the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto in partnership with Innovate […] Read more
Vermeer’s robotic bale-mover prototype handles up to three bales at a time.
Machinery

Autonomous baler handles tedious part of job

Robot uses a scouring pattern to find bales in the field

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Glacier FarmMedia – Collecting bales that are spread out across large fields is an onerous job. That’s why Vermeer has developed an autonomous bale mover. “We saw a need out there starting with biomass, where we needed to pick up a bunch of corn stalk bales and put them to the edge of the field,” […] Read more
When it comes to spraying, Trimble is working on systems that will decide what fields should be sprayed by looking at the crops’ growth stage and weather conditions.
Machinery

Trimble looks beyond the headlands in the future

Autonomous operations stretch past the fields’ edges and work with whole-farm operational logistics

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Glacier FarmMedia – Horsch and Trimble are working together on autonomous-agricultural robots. Phillip Horsch, owner of Horsch, tweeted a video of a robot pulling a planter during its spring testing regime, the first of three robotic prototypes the company plans to test this year. The robot in Horsch’s video is equipped with Trimble technology, and […] Read more

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