Possibilities of using automatic systems for correcting the position of working units of tools including soil cultivation

Abstract

The progressive technical development of agriculture and the desire to increase the efficiency and quality of agrotechnical processes related to soil cultivation forces the use of more and more complex automation and robotisation processes in agricultural technology. The article introduces the reader to modern control systems for automatic hoeing tools and presents a modern control system for a baler-wrapper, the project of which (POIR.04.01.04-00-0067/18) is implemented by the authors in the Łukasiewicz Research Network Industrial Institute of Agricultural Engineering consortium with the Metal-Fach company. One of the reasons for the automatisation of agricultural machinery is the departure from chemical methods of cultivating crops, due to the growing awareness of consumers who want ecological and thus healthier products. The influence of automation on organic farming was characterized and its general principles were presented. The automatic cultivators were divided based on the kinematics of the tool movements they operate on the basis of machine vision. The results of the baler-wrapper tests were presented, confirming the validity of the designed control system. The authors summarized the main advantages and disadvantages of the systems for correcting the position of working tools of machines, considering the profitability of this type of investment on the example of weeder and a baler-wrapper. The article adopts the hypothesis that the development of agricultural automation has a positive effect on the development and popularity of organic farming.

Mechanical Weed Control Systems: Methods and Effectiveness

“…Vision systems are used to detect plants and correct weeding tools, enabling faster driving of a tractor or an autonomous platform, e.g., CultiCam, Garford, K.U.L.T., Steketee, FarmDroid, Robovator, etc. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. There are also other weeding methods based on the visual recognition of weeds and burning them with a laser beam.…”