The University of Auckland

Project #50: Autonomous Towing of Farm Implements

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Description:

Partnering with Pastoral Robotics, an Auckland precision agriculture company (see www.pastoralrobotics.co.nz).

Spikey® is a step change technology that enables true precision fertiliser application in pastoral farming. Currently implemented as a large contractor-centric machine, Spikey® is designed to be towed by a tractor. There is an opportunity to couple the Spikey® technology to a small robot such as Govor (see www.agovor.com). Pastoral Robotics already have a minimised version of Spikey®, which will be available to the project from mid April.

Type:

Undergraduate

Outcome:

- Testing of the minimized Spikey® to determine tow force requirements in different device and field conditions.

- Evaluation of the suitability of the identified tow vehicle for coupling with a minimized Spikey®.

- Areas for improvement, with suggested design changes, in both the implement and the tow vehicle.

- Concept demonstration with additional elements for testing relevant aspects of the designs.

- Specification outlining the relevant parameters for the development of a commercial implement/robot pairing.

- Conference paper, if relevant.

Prerequisites

None

Specialisations

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Supervisor

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Lab

No lab has been assigned to this project