The agricultural machinery manufacturer John Deere developed autonomous tractors with GPS, stereo cameras and lidar sensors for fields, forests and quarries.
John Deere is also developing autonomous agricultural machinery to address demographic change.
- André Kramer
The agricultural machinery manufacturer John Deere sees agriculture confronted with a dilemma: The world population will grow to ten billion by 2050, but the workforce in agriculture will shrink. The average age of farmers in the USA is 58 years.
Fully autonomous and fully electric agricultural machines that can be monitored, managed and controlled via smartphone apps are the solution. They are used in the fields, in tree plantations and in quarries.
Stereo cameras triangulate the distance
John Deere uses stereo cameras to capture objects three-dimensionally via triangulation and calculate their distance. Instead of just two, John Deere uses 16 cameras per tractor to locate objects up to 24 meters away.
The components in the second-generation autonomy kit are passively cooled and robust for outdoor use.
Object detection via lidar sensors
So-called high-quality crops such as pistachios or almonds place higher demands on care and harvesting than, for example, grass or maize. For example, pesticides would have to be applied for up to ten hours a day and six to eight times per season.
John Deere introduces three new autonomous diesel tractors for tree plantations. They have to navigate through dense canopies of leaves, under which GPS no longer works reliably. John Deere uses lidar sensors to detect obstacles, and electric variants are to follow.
Autonomous construction machine for quarries
Dusty is the name of the new addition to John Deere. The electric construction machine – the manufacturer presented the 460E II in the video – uses the autonomy kit to perform repetitive tasks in difficult terrain such as quarries. The dump loader finds its way independently. Twelve cameras are to provide all-round visibility. Dusty positions itself autonomously, unloads its load and drives on to pick up new cargo.
Autonomous lawn mower
Finally, John Deere introduces an autonomous lawnmower. He only needs four stereo cameras for a 360-degree image of the surroundings. Its electric motor works for ten hours at a time and prevents residents from feeling disturbed by noise or exhaust fumes. According to the manufacturer, it mows at a speed of about 9 km/h.
