Nikolaus Correll at Tedx Front Range 2012

University of Colorado Assistant Professor Nikolaus Correll, speaking at TEDx Front Range earlier this year, outlined his vision for transforming agriculture through robotic cultivation.

(Correll Lab at the University of Colorado)

2012 Field Robot Event, June 28th - 30th

This will be the 10th edition of the Field Robot Event. Organized by Fontys University of Applied Sciences and Wageningen UR (University & Research), it will be held in Venlo, The Netherlands, on the grounds of Floriade 2012.

(PDF of slides from above presentation video about the 2012 Field Robot Event)

John Foley, The Other Inconvenient Truth

Agricultural Robotics at the European Robotics Forum 2012

A press release issued by the European Robotics Platform website regarding agricultural robotics as a presence at the European Robotics Forum 2012 makes plain not only that there is a significant level of agricultural robotics activity in Europe but also that it is driven by a vision very similar to that outlined here. Recommended reading!

wide-track vehicle has potential as generic platform

What you see above (video removed) is a dual-tracked vehicle, but forget for the moment that it's a single thing and think of it as merely two control/power units, each driving a single track, connected by a beam, frame, or platform, which could easily be expandable to allow the tracks to be set closer together or further apart. As such, it might serve very well as the platform to which other robotic equipment might be attached for field tests.

Horto domi: the Open Garden by Outer Babylon

More information available here and here.

platform for agricultural robotics development

Something that would help move the work on robotic sensors and manipulators for agriculture forward would be an affordable, robust platform on which they could be mounted and transported through a field. It seems to me that self-propelled sprayers with high clearance and adjustable track widths, intended for row crop operation, offer the best model for such a platform.

Here's just a few examples: ALPHA Evo, AMAZONE Pantera, AGCO SpraCoupe, and a selection of sprayers from Agrifac.

Note that these machines are not built for traction, but to suspend a load high enough that it doesn't interfere with crops. This and the adjustable track width is why, taken together as a class of machines, they make a good model for a robotics platform.

Ideally, only the frame and running gear from one of these designs would be used. To that add a transverse beam (gantry) along which suspended robotic modules can move sideways, mounted far enough above the ground surface to make room for the modules and to avoid interference with the crops.