People like driving tractors. Low demand?
this video is 4 years old ............... and built by and amateur using open source tech
so why is it not commercial yet ? whats holding back progress so much ?
this video is 4 years old ............... and built by and amateur using open source tech
so why is it not commercial yet ? whats holding back progress so much ?
People like driving tractors. Low demand?
You answered your own question, hard to commercialise an open source piece of software.
I believe there’s a Vice video about people hacking into the CPU systems of JD tractors to repair them.
if it can be done open source then why are others not dosing so ? all the major tractor manufactures must have the ability so it has to be either cots or legislation holding us back here ?
A driver is a lot cheaper / hour than the additional tech an monitoring required for automation , is able to service the machinery, can spot a problem that technology wouldn’t easily detect, will be able to keep the operation moving through 99% of eventualities, will be able to deal with other essential farming tasks on wet days (etc) and all for C.£10/hour.
An automated tractor needs someone else to service and repair it which some businesses would delegate to a dealer at £75/hour, it can’t spot a missing disc /coulter / buggered bearing, it can spot a blocked seed pipe etc but it can’t resolve any issues without human intervention which necessitates taking manpower from another task (so 2 operations stopped), it might not detect early signs of a major mechanical issue, so that ‘stitch in time’ turns into a £15k bill and 3 weeks waiting for the repair to complete.
You’d almost think some ‘bosses’ cant stand having anyone else ‘playing with their toys’...
A driver is a lot cheaper / hour than the additional tech an monitoring required for automation , is able to service the machinery, can spot a problem that technology wouldn’t easily detect, will be able to keep the operation moving through 99% of eventualities, will be able to deal with other essential farming tasks on wet days (etc) and all for C.£10/hour.
An automated tractor needs someone else to service and repair it which some businesses would delegate to a dealer at £75/hour, it can’t spot a missing disc /coulter / buggered bearing, it can spot a blocked seed pipe etc but it can’t resolve any issues without human intervention which necessitates taking manpower from another task (so 2 operations stopped), it might not detect early signs of a major mechanical issue, so that ‘stitch in time’ turns into a £15k bill and 3 weeks waiting for the repair to complete.
You’d almost think some ‘bosses’ cant stand having anyone else ‘playing with their toys’...
Labour is the biggest cost in many industries by miles. A lot of serious equipment can be programmed to shut down if it detects a fault no matter what the operator does. Uses the exact same sensors that are used to inform the operator there is a problem.
My Horsch drill has 14 coulters, none of which a sensor to stop the drill if a coulter falls off. One assembly did fall off in it's first season, and it was spotted by a good operator straight away, dragging under the drill by a seed hose.
To mechanise the labour out of the job, every coulter will need a sensor, to cover every eventuality every moving part will need a sensor. But It wont be a part falling off the drill that loses the farm a days drilling, it will be one or more of 400 sensors going on the blink that fudges the job right up. Only then will we realise that 400 expensive sensors can't replace 1 pair of eyes.
In 10 years time, when the £40,000 a year skilled labour has been paid off, we'll be able to spend all day watching YouTube clips of 'automated' tractors dragging three quarters of a seed drill and 100 yards of fence across 10,000 ha farms, and gleefully say: "Isn't 'progress' wonderful!"
And God forbid the 5G network goes down during harvest, it would paralyse the industry.
if it can be done open source then why are others not dosing so ? all the major tractor manufactures must have the ability so it has to be either cots or legislation holding us back here ?
.....................or are they just releasing the tech a bit at a time so we have constant reason to upgrade ?
So what if sensors could do what your eyes can ? Or inffact t do BETTER than your eyes can ?
Wait see what JD are going to launch soon ( at Agritechnica would be my guess) - I had a glimpse of the future last month in the USA
My Horsch drill has 14 coulters, none of which a sensor to stop the drill if a coulter falls off. One assembly did fall off in it's first season, and it was spotted by a good operator straight away, dragging under the drill by a seed hose.
To mechanise the labour out of the job, every coulter will need a sensor, to cover every eventuality every moving part will need a sensor. But It wont be a part falling off the drill that loses the farm a days drilling, it will be one or more of 400 sensors going on the blink that fudges the job right up. Only then will we realise that 400 expensive sensors can't replace 1 pair of eyes.
In 10 years time, when the £40,000 a year skilled labour has been paid off, we'll be able to spend all day watching YouTube clips of 'automated' tractors dragging three quarters of a seed drill and 100 yards of fence across 10,000 ha farms, and gleefully say: "Isn't 'progress' wonderful!"
And God forbid the 5G network goes down during harvest, it would paralyse the industry.
My Horsch drill has 14 coulters, none of which a sensor to stop the drill if a coulter falls off. One assembly did fall off in it's first season, and it was spotted by a good operator straight away, dragging under the drill by a seed hose.
To mechanise the labour out of the job, every coulter will need a sensor, to cover every eventuality every moving part will need a sensor. But It wont be a part falling off the drill that loses the farm a days drilling, it will be one or more of 400 sensors going on the blink that fudges the job right up. Only then will we realise that 400 expensive sensors can't replace 1 pair of eyes.
In 10 years time, when the £40,000 a year skilled labour has been paid off, we'll be able to spend all day watching YouTube clips of 'automated' tractors dragging three quarters of a seed drill and 100 yards of fence across 10,000 ha farms, and gleefully say: "Isn't 'progress' wonderful!"
And God forbid the 5G network goes down during harvest, it would paralyse the industry.
What sensors are those then Clive?
JD, mmmm,... Whatever happened to their battery powered tractor shown at Agritechnica 2017?
Labour is the biggest cost in many industries by miles. A lot of serious equipment can be programmed to shut down if it detects a fault no matter what the operator does. Uses the exact same sensors that are used to inform the operator there is a problem.
Lots of machinery will become fully automated due to the simple fact in many cases the operators do not exist.
Try finding 10 qualified loading shovel drivers available to work next month in the UK....