ION Alberta Virtual Meeting – Thursday October 22, 2020

Pro Dr. Dejan Šeatovic gave a presentation entitled Towards Autonomous Field Systems and Smart Farming: Let the machines do the work . Watch the presentation here.

Date: Thursday, October 22th

Time: 11:45 am – 1:30pm (Presentation to begin at noon)

Location: Zoom Meeting

Cost: Free

Presentation Title: Towards Autonomous Field Systems and Smart Farming: Let the machines do the work

Presenter: Prof. Dr. Dejan Šeatovic, Professor for Measurement Technology and Mechatronics, Institute of Lab Automation and Mechatronics, Ostschweizer Fachhochschule

Abstract: At present, GNSS based control traffic systems support farmers in their everyday tasks reliably. Large fields and machines utilised in the North-American, Australian and some European countries are very efficiently used for seeding, weed treatment, and harvesting. Precise navigation is crucial for the factories on the wheels, without precise localisation these machines would never perform as well as they do now. These highly efficient systems and intensive land use, unfortunately, alter the entire ecosystems and have a massive impact on human and animal health. The trend to smaller, heterogeneous farming, with small scale fields, poly-culture crops and zero biocides require different, more intelligent machines: field robots. The field robots designed differently than conventional agricultural machines: they are flexible, versatile, and capable of adapting to changes in the working area/volume. Besides flexibility, accuracy of a robotic manipulator (1-2 mm in working range of 2m) and can perform care tasks far more precisely conventional machines. Though, the procedure takes at least one and usually few orders of magnitude longer, however without biocides there is no pollution, and without considerable weight there is no soil compaction. At last, with sufficient energy such robot can work 24/7, through the season.

For Zoom Meeting details, please contact a member of the ION Alberta executive