AgOpenGPS rolling peas

[wd9]

Any idea why the dot guys cancelled?

That's a very good question. I would only be speculating. But it seems they have been cancelling more of them. Nothing new posted for quite some time, you would think there would be a ton of videos of it seeding, rolling, etc - but nothing. It's complicated to do, for that i am sure.

Autonomous operation of Ag equipment is downright scary, and has huge technical challenges. I was part of the crowd that once said add some sensors and you are good to go, but after riding in the tractor while it did a few thousand acres on its own to observe, it worked flawless for the 99.9% but its that last little bit that is technically huge to overcome and is extremely dangerous and potentially costly in terms of equipment and public property damage.

The air seeder maybe went just right on either side of the slough denoting no problem, but the auto roller tractor being a different width went right thru the middle - grab the wheel and correct it. Coming to a headland knowing the steepness of it would cause a jacknife of the roller/tractor - grab the wheel and correct. Mystery holes, steer around them. Deer antlers - stop and pick it up - don't drive over it. So many more, like fallen trees - they aren't on google maps or the boundary file, big storm last night - things change in an instant.

We are and will be a long way from autonomous tractors provided by commercial entities - much like auto cars, there will be conflict and learning for quite some time. Maybe I'm wrong, but experience is a good teacher and gives grounding to the discussion.

[RickTaillieu]

Get all the details about canolaPALOOZA and register at

https://albertacanola.com/palooza

There more than 25 learning stations including AgraBot and over 100 instructors. And it’s FREE to attend.

Scroll down the page and there is an official statement from SeeDotRun regarding the cancellation of their demos.

Rick Taillieu
Extension Manager
Alberta Canola.

[DouglasGirard]

That’s a dongle hanging out the window.

It measures:
Macro nutrients top 12 inches of soil N,P,K,S
Micro nutrients C, B, Ma,Zn, Moly, etc
Electrical conductivity
Organic matter
And soil health, co2 respiration of microbes
And moisture ratings to 36 inch depths

Hi Rareearth and WD9,

Are you able to provide more details about the dongle? I watched the video and saw the string but I didn't see the dongle referenced. Perhaps you have a link or part number? Maybe it's a custom built thing using a combination of sensors to achieve all the measurements?

I work in IT, heavily into networking, but have worked quite a lot with Arduinos and other microcontrollers also. One current project I've had the opportunity to assist with is a data collection platform. There are many other options out there, cayanne, Google IoT, Amazon has one etc, but we wanted to be in control of the data. In my mind it would be perfect solution for collecting metrics from the dongle mentioned including visual displays of the data as well as Analytics/Monitoring/Alerting. So I'm really interested in the dongle and sensors and hoping to find out more details.

While I unfortunately don't know much about farming it has always been a bit of a secret dream to one day leave the office and drive a tractor instead, so robotics and farming together is really grabbed my attention lately. Let me know if theres ever an opportunity to assist with your projects, I'd love to get involved!

Thanks!

[pourfarmer]

Hi Rareearth and WD9,

Are you able to provide more details about the dongle? I watched the video and saw the string but I didn't see the dongle referenced. Perhaps you have a link or part number? Maybe it's a custom built thing using a combination of sensors to achieve all the measurements?

I work in IT, heavily into networking, but have worked quite a lot with Arduinos and other microcontrollers also. One current project I've had the opportunity to assist with is a data collection platform. There are many other options out there, cayanne, Google IoT, Amazon has one etc, but we wanted to be in control of the data. In my mind it would be perfect solution for collecting metrics from the dongle mentioned including visual displays of the data as well as Analytics/Monitoring/Alerting. So I'm really interested in the dongle and sensors and hoping to find out more details.

While I unfortunately don't know much about farming it has always been a bit of a secret dream to one day leave the office and drive a tractor instead, so robotics and farming together is really grabbed my attention lately. Let me know if theres ever an opportunity to assist with your projects, I'd love to get involved!

Thanks!

Pretty sure rare earth was b.s'ing. WD9 said above that the string was for emergency shut off

[DouglasGirard]

Pretty sure rare earth was b.s'ing. WD9 said above that the string was for emergency shut off

Haha, too funny. I generally think I have a good sense of humor...

But would farmers love to have this ability? I think it would be well within the realm of possibilies...

I've looked at some sensors from Campbell Scientific. They aren't cheap. I was quoted $2500 for a 36" probe which has a sensor every 10 inches? Centimeters? I can't remember now I was kinda hung up on the price at the time. The other challenge with this approach was that you now need to auger a 36" hol (deep, was about an inch or so wide, but was cautioned about gaps between the Earth and sensor messing up the reading) wherever you want to take a measurement. I had considered building a small robot to go out and do this for you. But the build cost kept creeping higher and higher as I'm sure you can imagine.

There is an Australian company who is making a similar device they've named AgBotII which I found by incorrectly googling the term AgroBot from Rick's post. Perhaps we're all late to the party and just need to pony up the $$ to get their tech.

To me it seems the biggest hurdle here would be to find the balance between what is possible vs what is actually needed to add value to every farmer, and keep the costs down at the same time.

At the very least a really interesting discussion!

Thanks!

[Rareearth]

In the usa they are seeding multiple varieties in the field.

It’s about knowing, measur8ng, understanding, and executing.
- how to measure variability in the field
- what are the yield limiting factors
- can those factors or issues be adjusted, easily or cost effectively

We can manage and spray our fields easily and effectively down to the square foot, 44,000 zones per acre

It’s only a matter of time, ingenuity and cost. Hopefully this will become a competitive advantage vs other regions of the world who grow the same crops we do

[wd9]

Moving closer to whole field autonomy.

[farmaholic]

Is this going to be the death of stand alone GPS companies like Outback, Trimble and Raven? How are they gojng to stay ahead of AgOpen GPS. I can see proprietary brands being protected through major brand machinery companies....install their "own" only.

I would have more questions but I would sound dumber than most people think I already am.