What do you do all day, drive a tractor…
This is over now, as tractors are becoming autonomous. In the future, they will lurk in the fields even without a farmer.
The world’s largest agricultural machinery manufacturer, Deere & Company, leads the way. The group will launch a fully autonomous tractor this year.
“It’s not a vision or a demo, but a finished product,” said Jahmi Hindman, technology owner at CES, the technology fair in Las Vegas.
In the summer, the American conglomerate acquired robot start-up Bear Flag Robotics, which specialized in the automation of agricultural work.
Deere Tractor has six pairs of stereo cameras which provide all-round visibility for obstacle detection. Information from the recorded images is transmitted through a system inspired by biological neural networks that the human brain also uses.
“Each pixel is graded in about 100 milliseconds. The system then decides whether the machine will continue or stop depending on whether an obstacle is detected,” Hindman said. Artificial intelligence was trained with over 50 million images.
The tractor is also constantly checking its condition with respect to the predetermined area of use. The purpose of this virtual fence (“geofence”) is to ensure that the vehicle operates where it should with an accuracy of 2.5 cm.
According to the company, all the farmers have to configure the tractor by bringing it to the field to use it. Then they can devote themselves to other tasks.
The machine can also be monitored remotely using a smartphone, tablet or personal computer.
The American company Deere & Company with its tractor brand John Deere is one of the leading manufacturers of agricultural machinery in Germany.
Reader. Organizer. General creator. Zombie fanatic. Alcohol advocate. Food junkie. Bacon ninja.
