UK Farm is First to Complete Fully-autonomous Crop Harvest

Lauren Scrudato for Laboratory Equipment:  A team of researchers from Harper Adams University in the UK say they are the first in the world to complete a harvest – from sowing and fertilizing all the way through to the actual harvest of the crop – using robotic technology and autonomous vehicles.

The project, called Hands Free Hectare, was conducted on a farm in the village of Edgmond in the UK.

The team successfully harvested 4.5 metric tons of spring barley, just short of their goal to get 5 metric tons.

The team worked with Precision Decisions, a precision farming services company, which also partially funded the project.

They completed the task with basic, commercially-available agriculture machines and open-source software typically used to guide hobbyists’ drones. They equipped the farming machines with actuators, electronics and robot technology, which enabled them to control the machines without a human operator required to be present in the field.  Full Article:

Comments (0)

This post does not have any comments. Be the first to leave a comment below.


Post A Comment

You must be logged in before you can post a comment. Login now.

Featured Product

Elmo Motion Control – The Platinum Line, a new era in servo control

Elmo Motion Control - The Platinum Line, a new era in servo control

Significantly enhanced servo performance, higher EtherCAT networking precision, richer servo operation capabilities, more feedback options, and certified smart Functional Safety. Elmo's industry-leading Platinum line of servo drives provides faster and more enhanced servo performance with wider bandwidth, higher resolutions, and advanced control for better results. Platinum drives offer precise EtherCAT networking, faster cycling, high synchronization, negligible jitters, and near-zero latency. They are fully synchronized to the servo loops and feature-rich feedback support, up to three feedbacks simultaneously (with two absolute encoders working simultaneously). The Platinum Line includes one of the world's smallest Functional Safety, and FSoE-certified servo drives with unique SIL capabilities.