Self-Driving Farm Machine Routing Around Already-Worked Areas
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing agricultural machines lack the ability to be hailed to a desired point along an appropriate path that avoids already-worked areas, potentially damaging crops or reducing the effectiveness of previous work.
Innovation Solution
An agricultural support system that includes a terminal to hail a self-driving agricultural machine to a hailing point and a processor to generate a travel route that avoids already-worked areas, using positional information and a computer program to control the machine's movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If the agricultural machine travels directly to the hailing point, then the response time is reduced, but it may step on already-worked areas and damage crops or reduce work effectiveness
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates and stores multiple candidate travel routes between fields, including routes that avoid already-worked areas. When a hailing request is received, the machine can quickly select from pre-prepared routes, reducing response time while avoiding crop damage.
Solution Approach 2:
The machine receives real-time information about its current location and the status of worked areas through the terminal device. This feedback enables dynamic route selection that avoids already-worked areas while still responding efficiently to hailing requests.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the agricultural machine follows a complex route avoiding all already-worked areas, then crop damage is prevented, but the travel distance and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple candidate routes are pre-calculated and stored before the machine needs to respond to a hailing request. These routes are designed to avoid already-worked areas while optimizing travel distance. When hailing occurs, the machine quickly selects from these pre-prepared options rather than calculating a new route from scratch.
Solution Approach 2:
The route selection is dynamic and adapts to the machine's current location and the real-time status of worked areas. The system can switch between different pre-calculated routes based on current conditions, optimizing both crop protection and travel efficiency.
3Ease of operation
If the agricultural machine uses a fixed travel path, then navigation is simple, but it cannot avoid already-worked areas when hailed
Solution Approach 1:
The navigation system is divided into two parts: fixed field-level paths for routine operations and dynamic hailing-specific routes for responsive navigation. The fixed paths maintain simplicity for regular work, while the dynamic routing capability enables avoidance of already-worked areas when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The terminal device serves multiple functions: it provides both fixed path navigation guidance and dynamic route calculation for hailing requests. This multi-functionality allows the system to maintain simple fixed path operation while also adapting to avoid already-worked areas when hailing occurs.
Data Source
AI summary
An agricultural support system includes a terminal to hail a self-driving agricultural machine to a hailing point, and a processor to generate, in an area excluding an already-worked area of the agricultural machine, a travel route for the agricultural machine to head toward the hailing point.