Advanced Controllers for Autonomous Farming Machines

自主农业机械的高级控制器

• 批准号: 529989-2018
• 负责人: Sepehri, Nariman
• 金额: $ 1.82万
• 依托单位: University of Manitoba
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Engage Grants Program
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=664748
• 关键词: Advanced; Controllers; Autonomous; Farming; Machines

Northstar Robotics, a Canadian company in Winnipeg, is developing a cloud software platform and specialized**sensing, perception and control to retrofit existing human-operated farming machines into autonomous ones.**This will allow producers to run their entire farms from a fleet of autonomous machines. There are two**research issues for which the company is currently seeking technical solutions in order to bring their product**closer to commercialization: (i) to develop a robust steering and trajectory control system for existing**hydraulically-actuated farm machines capable of navigating a crop with high positional accuracy and (ii), to**develop a robust high-speed row-following system that can avoid damaging crop rows.**In this project, the applicant will conduct a research to synthesize, prototype and evaluate a software and**accompanied hardware to facilitate auto-guided farm machines. The product must work with the existing**by-wire, mechanical or hydraulic systems and link information on a vehicle's status to a central station as**appropriate. More specifically, we will: (i) develop controllers for lane and row followings, (ii) investigate the**integration of the controllers with the existing machine control, (iii) study reliability needed for critical**machine-to-machine communication including very short and stable latency and (iv), understand the**productivity gains and return on investment for farms and end users of the technology.**This project will allow Northstar Robotics to work closely with researchers at the University of Manitoba to**systematically study issues that ultimately address the labor shortage in agriculture that prevents farmers from**maximizing their food production. These issues introduce unique challenges that need to be investigated to**make the final products appealing to farmers. The potential for company's growth in terms of sales, new hires,**revenue and staying competitive is enormous.

位于温尼伯的加拿大公司Northstar Robotics正在开发一个云软件平台和专门的 ** 传感、感知和控制，以将现有的人工操作的农业机器改造成自主机器。这将使生产者能够通过一系列自动机器来管理整个农场。该公司目前正在寻求两个 ** 研究问题的技术解决方案，以使其产品 ** 更接近商业化：（i）为现有的 ** 液压驱动农业机械开发一种强大的转向和轨迹控制系统，能够以高位置精度导航作物和（ii），** 开发一种强大的高速行跟踪系统，可以避免损坏作物行。在这个项目中，申请人将进行一项研究，以综合，原型和评估一个软件和 ** 伴随硬件，以促进自动引导农业机械。该产品必须与现有的线控、机械或液压系统配合使用，并将车辆状态信息链接到适当的中央站。具体而言，我们将：（i）开发车道和行跟踪控制器，（ii）调查控制器与现有机器控制的 ** 集成，（iii）研究关键 ** 机器对机器通信所需的可靠性，包括非常短和稳定的延迟，以及（iv）了解该技术的 ** 生产率收益和农场和最终用户的投资回报。该项目将使Northstar Robotics与马尼托巴大学的研究人员密切合作，系统地研究最终解决农业劳动力短缺问题的问题，这些问题阻碍了农民最大限度地提高粮食产量。这些问题带来了独特的挑战，需要进行调查，以使最终产品对农民有吸引力。公司在销售额、新员工、收入和保持竞争力方面的增长潜力是巨大的。