Robotic Following Cart to Replace Light Duty Tractor Tasks?

MossRoad · Jan 8, 2022

CADplans said:
The reason human operated machines are low hours is because of lazy humans,, ....

You got that right. But it also brings up a valuable point in that when a human isn't doing one task, they can be doing another if properly supervised and/or motivated.

It often comes down to a human supervising or feeding multiple machines.

Think about a small farm with a hired hand.

Mr. Douglas could have bought a larger tractor and a milking machine and ditched Eb, if Eb cost more than those machines over a reasonable period of time.

candersen10 · Jan 9, 2022

Burros in production

We're finding that jobs done by people as opposed to from a tractor have a very high ROI if/when an autonomous system like this can help or replace work.

daugen · Jan 10, 2022

Wow, look at all those burros. Burri?
any of those waiting for parts hard to get?
wonder if supply chain problems difficult for you

daugen · Jan 10, 2022

Robot Tractors Are Coming to Take Over the Farm

John Deere revealed a self-driving tractor at CES with traditional diesel power, while Monarch's was autonomous and electric.

www.autoweek.com

the trend continues

interesting company: Motivo Engineering | Accelerating Product Development

as the challenge getting "good help" that is affordable increases, automated aids like this make a lot of sense

candersen10 · Jan 28, 2022

33 inch mower with 8 hour run time, and row to row autonomy with vision based obstacle handling etc.

Good idea or bad idea (nothing actually to mow now, so not showing it mowing here, but you get the idea in terms of scale etc.)?

Xfaxman · Jan 28, 2022

I think the mower should be out front, not trailing.

Better to mow before the drive wheels lay the grass over.

MossRoad · Jan 29, 2022

Have you tested your run time under load? I find mowing to be the absolute hardest task for my machine. The resistance of the air and grass against the blades causes my hydraulics to heat up very fast, as well as loading down the engine.

I'd also put the mower out front. That keeps the main tires from trampling down the grass before going under the mower.

Fixastuff · Jan 29, 2022

Very cool. I would love something that could follow the excavator around, I load dirt/gravel/whatever into it, then it goes and dumps in a designated location.

candersen10 · Jul 14, 2023

Today we have hundreds of these Burros running in the US/Australia/New Zealand/South America/Soon to EU/South Korea/Japan.

We can carry/tow up to about 3000 lbs in clean conditions/scout/count things up and down rows/patrol/and serve as a platform for a variety of uses (i.e. pollination, scanning, picking, etc.).

Now, we are launching a Raise / Lower hitch with an EPTO option that can power BCS and Zanon style attachments (available September this year). The system will be able to raise/lower a hitch, and run a BCS / Zanon style mower that is up to 36-40 inches wide for several hours (depending on cutt height / vegetation thickness), and is able to autonomously dock to charge/run/charge/run.

Here is what it will look like.
Would love feedback on this concept:
1. Stop mowing with a tractor
2. Set up something that runs to mow / docks to charge
3. Area and row to row capable

I know some people love to mow, but every farm I spend time on (my own and others) has so much stuff that doesn't get mowed. An autonomous system, costing around $30K, that can run to mow / dock and run at a 50%/50% charge / run rate seems like it could be very valuable to me in production settings.

daugen · Jul 25, 2023

as a retired insurance underwriter, my major concern is having a automated mower working in or near a residential environment, kids, pets, toys, etc.
they have made Roomba like mowers for a while and none have really caught on.
it's one thing to have a machine operating in a field, like the gps driven tractors do, another thing in an area with more hazards
to navigation.
if mower was used in an orchard, everything in predictable rows, which I'm guessing is the intention, where the landscape doesn't move or change, makes sense.

congratulations on achieving what you have so far, very impressive.
and thanks for taking us along for the ride.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349501902_A_remote-controlled_flail_mower_work-related_death_who_did_handle_the_controller

the track record for lawn mowers is interesting, lot of folks get hurt even while driving their own mower

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352587821000437

autonomous mowers are certainly out there, 65 grand for this one. That's a bump of 45k over a good ZT, so you are paying 45k to save labor.
I guess financially you can depreciate the equipment, that's a plus. Note the 200 dollar monthly "connection" fee.