FUTURE FARMING
iVTInternational.com September 2019
26
Multiuse machines
Historically, the conventional
tractor has succeeded as a multiuse
machine and employing a
diverse battery of single-use
modules could increase costs for
farmers. Herlitzius hopes to avoid
this through optimal utilization of
highly versatile swarm units.
“ e process module is always
unique, but other modules don’t
have to be,” he says. “We will see
which tillaging components we can
reuse in hay and forage harvesting.
Our common unit will be
a universal tool-carrier that can
be tted for many processes.”
But the trade-o between
versatile cost-e ciency and
applying task-speci c intelligence is
potentially complex. “It’s easier to
put value-add automation features
PROJEKT FELDSCHWARM:
FROM SAXONY TO HANOVER
Publicly-funded by the German Federal
Ministry of Education and Research,
Project Feldschwarm provides a nucleus
for economic growth in the former East
German state of Saxony. It sees a number
of partners including Dresden Technical
University, John Deere, the Fraunhofer
Institute and several local manufacturers
working together to construct a ‘fi eld
swarm’, using collaborative robotics to
perform light cultivation. The three-year
project concludes with whole swarm
fi eld-tests in 2021, but progress to date
will be illustrated at Agritechnica 2019.
“At Agritechnica we expect to have a
3D-printed, one-to-fi ve scale model unit,
showing functionality and modularity,
combined with explanatory animations of
the systems and operational interface,’
says Dresden Technical University’s
Professor Thomas Herlitzius. “Modular
components will undergo lab tests during
wintertime. Next year, we will assemble
the whole unit and test that in a yard
environment before proceeding to
fi eld-tests, fi rst on a tractor then with the
power and traction modules connected.
into single-purpose machines,’
says Tarasinski. “Knowing the exact
task enables you to request a speci c
set of sensors and write algorithms
that are to the point of what
you’re doing.”
New business models could
support economical swarm
utilization. “Instead of basing
farm operations on a capital
technology investment, I could
just buy machine-hours or tillage
as a eld-service.” Herlitzius
suggests. “ en someone else
is responsible for driving up
utilization and I only have the pureprocess
cost, providing greater
operational freedom.”
For now, all this lies in the far
future. Farmers need not
contemplate investment in marketready
swarm units for at least
In 2021 we will have a swarm in the fi eld,
with three units.”
John Deere will also unveil some
signifi cant innovations around fi eld
swarms and electrifi cation at the Hanover
expo. Federal funding depended on
Projekt Feldschwarm drawing regional
partners from a 100-mile diameter
swathe of Saxony, but due to a shortage
of local agricultural companies it was
agreed that John Deere could participate
as a large, industrial partner, hoping to
generate local German business and
benefi t from innovations in automation
and electrifi cation. The regional template
also dictated the choice of tillage as
Feldschwarm’s lead application.
“Today we would consider starting in
crop protection, which is now so critical,
but this was a specifi c subsidy scheme
for a regional consortium,” Herlitzius
continues. “We are not in Bavaria, which
has a higher density of manufacturers,
and needed to fi nd local partners. Tillage
was a compromise between fi nding the
best application and forming a valid,
robust consortium.”
“AT AGRITECHNICA WE EXPECT TO HAVE A 3DPRINTED, ONE
TOFIVE SCALE MODEL UNIT, SHOWING FUNCTIONALITY AND
MODULARITY, COMBINED WITH EXPLANATORY ANIMATIONS
OF THE SYSTEMS AND OPERATIONAL INTERFACE’
Professor Thomas Herlitzius, Technical University of Dresden
2021
The year whole-swarm
fi eld tests are set to
commence, utilizing
three units together
another decade, as Tarasinski
emphasizes. is long-sighted time
frame permits the daring ights
of invention which could give rise
to a radical new era of machine
architectures, but Projekt
Feldschwarm’s synergy of academic
and commercial perspectives
serves to hold dreams in check
to expediency.
“As a university, we have the
advantage and opportunity to be
more convinced about things,
whereas John Deere must earn
money with these visions and are
therefore more conservative,”
Professor Herlitzius concludes.
“ at’s not a discrepancy; it makes
the project interesting and dynamic
and we’re happy to have John Deere
pulling us back to Earth when we
y too far.” iVT
/iVTInternational.com
