Farm Machinery Proximity Control for Human Collision Avoidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing agricultural environments, such as dairy farms, face challenges in enhancing security due to distractions from smartphones and animal interactions with robots and machines, leading to potential accidents.
Innovation Solution
A dairy farm system equipped with locational devices, wireless signal receivers, and a control unit that determines the geographical position of a user and agricultural structures, triggering accident avoidance measures when the distance falls below a threshold, including alerts and deactivating moving parts to prevent collisions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If light grids are used to switch off machines when farmers or animals are detected, then safety is improved, but the system is disturbed by animals in the barn and requires complex infrastructure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical light grid system with an electronic positioning system using locational devices (GPS, RFID, or other tracking technologies) integrated with smartphones. This substitution eliminates the need for physical light grids and their associated infrastructure while maintaining safety monitoring capabilities through digital position tracking and proximity detection algorithms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces smartphones as intermediary devices that bridge the gap between the farmer and the machine control system. The smartphone applications serve as mediators, receiving position data from locational devices, processing proximity calculations, and communicating with machine control systems, thereby eliminating the need for direct physical infrastructure like light grids.
2Productivity
If farmers use smartphones for work and entertainment, then productivity and worker satisfaction are improved, but distraction from captive programs and games increases accident risk
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the smartphone application continuously monitors the farmer's position via locational devices and provides real-time alerts when approaching dangerous zones. The system gives warnings before actual danger occurs, allowing the farmer to remain using the smartphone for productivity purposes while maintaining safety through automated position-based feedback and alert systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary safety checks by continuously calculating distance to agricultural structures before accidents can occur. The smartphone application proactively warns farmers of approaching hazardous zones, enabling them to take preventive action before distraction leads to accidents, thus maintaining both smartphone usage benefits and safety.
3Ease of operation
If pairing is allowed from any distance, then ease of operation is improved, but unauthorized operations and accidents increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by implementing distance-based access control where pairing permissions are granted selectively based on the user's proximity to specific agricultural structures. The system evaluates the local condition (distance threshold) and grants or denies pairing permissions accordingly, ensuring that only users within safe and authorized distances can operate specific machines, thus balancing convenience with safety.
Data Source
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AI summary
Method (500) and system (600) in an agricultural environment (100). The method (500) comprises the steps of: obtaining (501) a geographical position of a locational device (115), associated with a human user (200); determining (502) a distance between the obtained (501) geographical position of the locational device (115) and a geographical position of an agricultural structure (105) comprising a moving part (110); and triggering (503) an accident avoidance measure when the determined (502) distance is smaller than a threshold limit (310a, 310b, 310c).