Autonomous Feed Crop Harvesting Without Soil Contact

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing agricultural methods are inefficient, costly, and often require manual labor or machinery, with limitations such as local processing and potential soil pollution.

Innovation Solution

An autonomous, unmanned device is used to automatically harvest, load, transport, and unload feed crops to either a feeding location or a stationary crop processing location, avoiding soil contact and enabling flexible destination selection.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Extent of automation

If manual labor or machine operators are used for harvesting and processing, then the operations can be performed, but labor costs and operational complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveautomation of harvesting and processingVSAvoidcomplexity of processing system

Core Design Contradiction:

Extent of automationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system divides the agricultural operation into distinct functional modules: autonomous harvesting device, separate processing location, and independent transport mechanism. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently while reducing overall system complexity and enabling full automation without requiring integrated complex machinery.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Adaptability or versatility

If crop processing is performed locally in the field, then processing can be done, but the system becomes restricted and costly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveflexibility of processing locationVSAvoidcomplexity of field processing equipment

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The processing operation is extracted from the field environment and relocated to a separate, stationary processing location. This extraction eliminates the need for complex field-based processing equipment while maintaining processing capability, thereby increasing system versatility and reducing device complexity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

3Object-affected harmful factors

If harvested crop is deposited on the soil, then temporary storage is achieved, but crop pollution occurs

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesoil pollution of cropVSAvoidstorage capacity of autonomous device

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The autonomous device's storage space acts as an intermediary between harvesting and processing/feeding operations. This intermediate storage eliminates direct contact between harvested crop and soil, preventing pollution while providing sufficient storage capacity to bridge the time gap between field operations and destination processing or feeding.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS12268125B2Agricultural method and system for performing the method

Publication Date: 2025.04.08 LELY PATENT NV

AI summary

A method, using an autonomous, unmanned device and a control device, includes the steps of automatically harvesting feed crop in a part of a crop field by means of the autonomous, unmanned device; automatically loading the harvested feed crop directly into a storage space provided on the autonomous, unmanned device without said harvested feed crop contacting the soil; choosing a destination location from a feeding location and a stationary crop processing location; automatically transporting the harvested feed crop from the crop field to the chosen destination location by means of the autonomous, unmanned device; and automatically unloading harvested feed from the storage space of the autonomous, unmanned device at the chosen destination location.