Testing of funicular trolley for agricultural operations
2022
Liu, Kaihua | Pasquazi, Fabio | Dore, Massimo | Graiff, Michele
In the last few years, many efforts have been spent on autonomous and unmanned systems, having the advantage of operating at relatively low speed and reducing the stress for the farmer. However, one major limitation to the implementation of autonomous systems is the difficulty in properly controlling operation paths. Random movements typically implemented by an automatic mower system are not viable in agriculture, thus new approaches have to be developed. The present paper introduces a different approach based on the traditional funicular technology: new advancement in materials and control electronics make it possible to modernize such old technique, opening new fields of application. The system is characterized by the absence of transmission organs: this design allows a reduction of the total mass, thus minimizing soil disturbance and also the overall pulling force on average lower than 2 kN. The system is equipped with RGB/IR cameras which allow the collection of images on the go during seeding operations. The forward speed of the system is typically ranging between 0.5 and 2 m•sE−1, and it optimizes seed distribution with coefficients of variation lower than 15% both in the lateral and longitudinal directions.
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