DESIGN
E-MOBILITY: E-TRACTORS
agriculture. Drones can rapidly plant trees or seeds and reach inaccessible areas more efficiently. • Spray applications. The use of drones to apply spray treatments of fertilisers and pesticides is an emerging application whose use varies by region (Figure 3). Precision produces more with less Even before autonomous tractors are realised, drones and the electrification of tractors and tractor implements are expected to support precision agriculture and increase sustainability. According to a study by the Association of [agricultural] Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), the use of precision agriculture can lead to a 4% increase in crop production, 7% increase in fertiliser placement efficiency, 9% reduction in herbicide and pesticide use, and 6% reduction in fossil fuel use. In addition, water use can be reduced by 4%
with precision irrigation.
Those numbers are based on current technology. With the addition of connected systems and artificial intelligence (AI), those improvements are expected to be multiplied. Adding machine learning (ML) for equipment maintenance provides further savings and improvements in sustainability. According to the AEM, autonomous farm equipment is expected to result in an incremental 24% improvement when both input savings and yield improvements are considered. AI and ML will also be critical for developing precision machines optimised for specific tasks. Dedicated task machines can be even smaller than general-purpose tractors. For example, small task machines are being developed for picking crops where machine vision, a delicate touch, and precise dexterity are required (Figure 4). Weed control is another area where task-specific AI and ML machines are
Figure 4. Example of harvesting autonomous robots that combine machine vision with AI and ML. (Image source: Photo by onurdongel via Getty Images)
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