AGT Autonomous Chaser WeedIT Spray Boom

About

 

20 years ago I had a dream, a vision of what the future of agricultural electronics should look like.  Today marks the culmination of that vision.

 

The evolution and development of Autonomy in Advanced Agricultural Spray Application

 

The Agtronics Autonomous Chaser WeedIT Spray boom is new, unique and significantly different to all other autonomous and spray technologies available domestically and internationally.

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A far as we are aware, it is the only integrated smart autonomous spray application system developed for the consumer market.  It represents a significant leap forward in technology and will be the first generation of self-regulating autonomous software for spray applications.

 

Due to factors linked to the rising cost of labour, rising costs of fuel and chemicals, as well as the increase in weed resistance, Agtronics has been at the forefront of agricultural spray technology and development for over 20 years. 

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Commitment to Innovation

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In 2009 Agtronics led the world, with the first sale of a spot spray system (WeedIT) system embedded into boom sprayers, having sourced this leading technology from Rometron in the Netherlands.  This enabled farmers to target weeds and minimise chemical application.

 

In 2015, Agtronics, partnered with University of NSW, to build a 12m or 24m fully autonomous spot spraying system prototype using a small Kubota tractor and purpose-built boom.   Following infield demonstrations, it was realized, that farmers needed larger-scale booms that could be pulled by larger machines to deliver autonomy, at scale.  Thus, Agtronics began the search for a suitable autonomous tractor kit, and the design of a purpose built 36m smart spray boom began.

 

In 2019, the Agtronics Chaser WeedIT boom was introduced to market and today there is nearly 70 of these machines running along the eastern side of Australia from central Qld to the Victorian/South Australian border, curtesy of a dedicated team of dealers which were signed in 2022. This is a specially designed hybrid boom suited for most broadacre terrains.

 

Most recently Agtronics has partnered with GPX in the Netherlands to make available to the Australian market the Iquus autonomous tractor kit, with the goal of developing the world’s first integrated smart autonomous spray application system, with a 24 or 36 metre boom.  Last year we had the opportunity to travel to Netherlands and meet with the manufacturers of both WeediT and Iquus, touring their factories.  Together with a dedicated software engineer, the last 2 years have been devoted to R&D and testing.

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The project has been a collaboration of the best technologies in the world to successfully create a completely autonomous, integrated and self-regulating smart system for broadacre spray application.

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How is it innovative and significantly different 

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This software, known as Agtronics embedded technology, constantly monitors the performance or ‘health’ of the spray application through a series of sensors. These sensors provide insights into things like nozzle performance and through an inbuilt weather station, it monitors rainfall, wind speed & direction, temperature, and humidity.  It’s actually that smart, it can work out the optimum speed for the tractor to run at and to reduce the chance of issues or damage to the boom.

 

It then goes one step further, based on these “health” readings and then makes informed decisions and takes action based on those insights.  The core modelling of the embedded technology software has been based on what a good operator would do in the tractor cab with a conventional implement attached. 

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This software mimics the actions of an operation, as it will instruct the tractor (via the GPX autonomous kit) to slow down, speed up, pause for instructions, stop completely and or communicate with an external operator. The system is also fitted with a Starlink satellite, which enables the farmer or external operator to receive any alerts and alarms directly to their mobile phone or tablet.

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This is critical, as weather factors, nozzle performance and whether the spray boom is even intact, or damaged, is essential to ensuring successful spray application and deliver accuracy, and performance.  

 

Further, the advantages of using a traditional tractor, as opposed to a ‘bot’, is that a tractor has:

• Height - improving its ability to detect or avoid obstacles,

• Engine power

  • improving its ability to pull a larger boom size

  • improving its ability to operate at higher speed (up to 17km/hr)

• Higher weight capacity

  • improving its ability to carry larger weight / higher chemical tank holding capacity.

  • Improving its fuel capacity, enabling tractor to run for several hours on 1 tank of fuel

• Can be registered and driven on public roads to access different areas.

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The comprehensive data from the spray application, recorded and captured by the Agtronics software provides the farmer with essential insights and records that underpin proper spray application.

 

In summary, all these factors combined, delivers true autonomy through a self-regulating spray system, at scale.

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Intended Market

This is a game changer for the Australian and international broadacre farming community.

 

Not only does it help to alleviate the labour shortages but our autonomous spray system gives the growers the tools to control their chemical applications, which is not only very cost effective (up to 90% chemical savings) but also has a positive impact on the surrounding environment due to lower amounts of chemicals being used and due to the high level of accuracy, less follow up sprays are required.