The University of Nebraska is introducing an autonomous planter that researchers there have named Flex-Ro.
A news release from the university described its work at a 5-acre no-till field on Rogers Memorial Farm one day this past April. At 2 miles per hour, and with researchers clearing obstacles from its path, the robot moved and planted on its own.
Supported by a $452,783 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Flex-Ro resides at the forefront of unmanned ground vehicle planter research, Santosh Pitla, associate professor of advanced machinery systems, said in the release. With the labor challenges agriculture faces, he sees robots and autonomy as a critical tool to help maintain agricultural productivity.
"I look at this robotic equipment as high-tech farm hands," he said.
The 3,800-pound machine sits on an adjustable high-clearance platform and is powered by a gas engine. Each wheel contains an electric and hydraulic motor that can be steered in four different modes.
The robot, which first entered fields in 2019 to measure crop traits, can be controlled remotely and operated autonomously. Flex-Ro has been designed to be modular and reconfigurable, with different modes of steering ability available on the fly.
Ag engineering graduate student Ian Tempelmeyer has worked on this project since fall 2021. He took on the challenge of automated seeding. He spent about six months analyzing the mechanics, deciding on a design that would provide enough force to penetrate no-till soil.
"We made a quick realization that a drawn implement in a traditional manner wasn't going to work. You needed a certain downforce," he said. "We came up with the idea to put it inside the wheelbase; that's something I hadn't seen."
Making sure the equipment would run safely and smoothly required trial and error. Eventually, the engineering team, which included agricultural systems technology undergraduates Landon Sokol, Seth Chandler and Zane Rikli, refined the code and calibrated the machine enough for more sophisticated controls, such as adjusting the speed and handling terrain changes.
Source: dtnpf.com
Photo Credit: gettyimages-simplycreativephotography
Categories: Nebraska, Equipment & Machinery, General