Swarm Coordination for Autonomous Farm Machines With Task Reconfiguration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous universal agricultural machines face challenges in efficiently adapting to various agricultural work tasks due to technical, economic, and legal hurdles, leading to underutilization and resource wastage, as they require configuration changes in equipment and software for each task.
Innovation Solution
A swarm assistance system that integrates autonomous universal agricultural machines into an agricultural work network, allowing them to be configured for different tasks by equipping them with changing work units and providing process knowledge, enabling efficient allocation and rental of machines based on capacity and request data, thereby optimizing resource use and modularity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If autonomous universal agricultural machines are configured to carry out various agricultural work tasks by changing work units and software, then adaptability and versatility are improved, but device complexity and difficulty of operation increase
Solution Approach 1:
A swarm assistance system acts as an intermediary between machine owners and autonomous universal agricultural machines. The system receives requests for agricultural work tasks, compares them with capacity data of available machines, and automatically assigns suitable machines to tasks. This mediator eliminates the need for complex manual configuration and operation by users, resolving the contradiction between versatility and operational complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The swarm assistance system enables autonomous universal agricultural machines to be self-assigned to appropriate tasks based on their capabilities and current workload. Machines automatically receive task assignments and configuration data needed to perform specific agricultural work tasks without requiring manual intervention from operators, thereby reducing operational complexity while maintaining high adaptability.
2Productivity
If autonomous universal agricultural machines are used instead of specialized machines, then acquisition costs and utilization efficiency are improved, but technical demand and operational difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The swarm assistance system serves as a mediator that automatically matches agricultural work tasks with suitable autonomous universal machines based on task requirements and machine capabilities. The system handles the complex process of selecting, configuring, and assigning machines to tasks, making the system easy to operate while maximizing utilization efficiency of the autonomous machines.
3Adaptability or versatility
If configuration changes are required for each agricultural work task, then adaptability is improved, but loss of time and operational complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The swarm assistance system performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring autonomous universal agricultural machines with the necessary work units and software settings before task execution. The system prepares configuration data in advance based on task requirements and machine capabilities, eliminating time-consuming on-site configuration changes and enabling rapid deployment for different agricultural work tasks.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a swarm assistance system for autonomous agricultural universal work machines (4), wherein the swarm assistance system (8) can be integrated into an agricultural work network (9), wherein the agricultural work network (9) connects autonomous agricultural universal work machines (4) as providers (10) of agricultural work tasks and consumers (11) of agricultural work tasks with each other and with the swarm assistance system (8), wherein the autonomous agricultural universal work machines (4) can be configured to perform a variety of different agricultural work tasks by being equipped with interchangeable work units (5), and wherein the swarm assistance system (8) is configured to receive request data relating to a requested agricultural work task from the consumers (11).to compare the request data with capacity data of at least one of the agricultural universal working machines (4) and, based on the result of the comparison, to arrange the rental of at least one agricultural universal working machine (4) to carry out the requested agricultural work task.