Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ALAV (Autonomous Lightweight Agricultural Vehicle)
Período documentado: 2021-03-01 hasta 2022-02-28
Farming is rough. A farmer is both a slave to his occupation and yet has freedom to do what he wants, in a way that he prefers. These days, people find happiness in a lavish and comfortable life, lived in urbanised areas while enjoying job security and the absence of hard physical labour. For this reason young people do not want to become farmers anymore: resulting in almost 60% of all farmers throughout Europe being over the age of 55. This combined with recent trends such as rising populations, increasing demand for food and labour shortage during seasonal peaks, the future for Europe’s agricultural sector is at risk. To cope with these challenges and increase productivity, farmers increasingly use heavier machines and resource-intensive farming systems, causing massive negative environmental impact such as soil compaction. In this project AgXeed presents the Autonomous Lightweight Agricultural Vehicle (ALAV). As a single unit or as part of a fleet, the ALAV is able to execute all operations throughout the cultivation cycle, completely independent and in a safe and efficient way due to robotics precision. Additionally, the ALAV stays under the irreversible soil compaction threshold, eliminating further degradation of the soil in comparison with conventional increasingly heavy machinery, leading to healthier crops and higher yields. The ALAV comes with a cloud based operating portal and a road compliant transportation module, is designed as a platform and can be connected with conventional implements already in use by farmers. In being autonomous, the ALAV eliminates labour shortages during seasonal peaks and generates tremendous savings for farmers in terms of labour and operational costs. The ALAV takes the first steps in shifting the essence of being a farmer from executing tasks manually to the monitoring and management of his agricultural business.
WP1: Build 2 demonstration machines
• We have continued to extensively test and demonstrate the existing prototype at farms in NL and DE and went to the leading ag shows Cereals UK and Innovagri FR.
• The general feedback is extremely positive during the demonstrations. There is consensus that autonomy is not something of the far future, but it is here today and working.
• Especially during the COVID restrictions the absence of labour became very clear leading to crops not being harvested due to the absence of labour. In addition the effects of soil compaction caused by heavy machinery is acknowledged by all; there needs to be a change in the way we cultivate our soils and people are starting to think how this can be accomplished by our solutions. The ground pressure of the tracked prototype is well under the target of 0,5 kg/cm2 and that is highly appreciated.
• The 2 demonstration machines will be completed before the 2022 season starts.
WP2: Functioning “Live” Portal
• We have been continuously making updates and adding functionality to the Path Planning Tool in our Portal based on feedback received during the testing at various actual farms with a large variety of fields. We have experienced very limited issues in planning of the fields so far; reactions are positive on the flexibility, possibilities and accuracy of the plans that are generated by the Portal.
• We have made some big steps in the obstacle detection system. The Lidar system is now also controlling the movement of the machine and ultrasonic, radar and touch sensors are added to make the obstacle detection system completely redundant and independent from environmental circumstances.
• We are confident we will meet the required safety level of AgPL=d on the 2 demonstration machines.
WP3: Demonstration results
• We have realized the first commercial traction; we are on target to sign 10 contracts within 2022.
• These first 10 machines will be sold and serviced directly by the AgXeed team – we have hired the right expertise to do so.
• We are negotiating terms with several regional distribution companies that need to secure the >50 prospect customers for 2023
• The track proto is scheduled to go to a large test farm of an implement manufacturer in the Eastern part of Germany where it will easily make the hectares and hours as planned.
• Testing will also be carried out by various research institutions like the WUR (NL) to monitor soil compaction and impact on biodiversity.
WP4: Project Management
• Partnerships have so far been mainly focused on development and suppliers. Now the focus will be on the distribution contracts with regional sales and service partners.
• Farmers are first attracted by our hardware component, but once they understand the software side of our solution they start to understand the potential and added value of planning ahead and the collection of data; not just for our AgBots, but for the entire farm.
• We have continued to extensively test and demonstrate the existing prototype at farms in NL and DE and went to the leading ag shows Cereals UK and Innovagri FR.
• The general feedback is extremely positive during the demonstrations. There is consensus that autonomy is not something of the far future, but it is here today and working.
• Especially during the COVID restrictions the absence of labour became very clear leading to crops not being harvested due to the absence of labour. In addition the effects of soil compaction caused by heavy machinery is acknowledged by all; there needs to be a change in the way we cultivate our soils and people are starting to think how this can be accomplished by our solutions. The ground pressure of the tracked prototype is well under the target of 0,5 kg/cm2 and that is highly appreciated.
• The 2 demonstration machines will be completed before the 2022 season starts.
WP2: Functioning “Live” Portal
• We have been continuously making updates and adding functionality to the Path Planning Tool in our Portal based on feedback received during the testing at various actual farms with a large variety of fields. We have experienced very limited issues in planning of the fields so far; reactions are positive on the flexibility, possibilities and accuracy of the plans that are generated by the Portal.
• We have made some big steps in the obstacle detection system. The Lidar system is now also controlling the movement of the machine and ultrasonic, radar and touch sensors are added to make the obstacle detection system completely redundant and independent from environmental circumstances.
• We are confident we will meet the required safety level of AgPL=d on the 2 demonstration machines.
WP3: Demonstration results
• We have realized the first commercial traction; we are on target to sign 10 contracts within 2022.
• These first 10 machines will be sold and serviced directly by the AgXeed team – we have hired the right expertise to do so.
• We are negotiating terms with several regional distribution companies that need to secure the >50 prospect customers for 2023
• The track proto is scheduled to go to a large test farm of an implement manufacturer in the Eastern part of Germany where it will easily make the hectares and hours as planned.
• Testing will also be carried out by various research institutions like the WUR (NL) to monitor soil compaction and impact on biodiversity.
WP4: Project Management
• Partnerships have so far been mainly focused on development and suppliers. Now the focus will be on the distribution contracts with regional sales and service partners.
• Farmers are first attracted by our hardware component, but once they understand the software side of our solution they start to understand the potential and added value of planning ahead and the collection of data; not just for our AgBots, but for the entire farm.
• One of the main issues farmers are facing today is the availability of labour. The travel restrictions due to COVID have only intensified this problem, in exceptional cases even leading to crops left rotting on the field due to the lack of available labour for harvest. This is one of the main decisive factors farmers are approaching us; our solutions will give them confidence that tasks will be executed, and in a more accurate and precise way any of the operators can do. We heard stories of farmers that want to expand their farm but wouldn’t because they could find the personnel that would be required to do so.
• Another trend that we see that is intensified by COVID is the dependency on foreign food supply and the extensive travel that comes with certain crops. There is a clear awareness of locally produced food.
• With our solutions farmers do get the resources and flexibility to expand and grow locally. The path planning tool allows complicated crop plans like strip tillage where multiple crops are grown next to eachother increasing biodiversity and local availability of a broader range of crops.
• The wealth of data that is collected with the machines – and we consider the farmer to be the owner of this data - will give the farmers a very powerful position all the way at the start of the food supply chain. The farmers can proof where the products were grown, how much fertilizer and chemicals were used, perform growth & yield predictions providing them with a powerful position towards distributors and retailers down the food supply chain.
• But most importantly by taking the driver out of the equation farmers can start to change the principles with which we cultivate our soils today. There is no more need for massive machines doing combined operations because only 1 operator is available to do the job. We can go back to splitting certain tasks which is better for the soil and the crops, and will lead to higher yields. We need to consider our soil as a non-renewable resource and stop the current trend of “bigger is better” that will inevitably lead to erosion and ultimately desertification. With our solutions we can accomplish that and based on the conversations we have with farmers they do realize that this change is now at their doorstep. It is great to see that our solutions start to make them wonder why they do things the way do now.
• Another trend that we see that is intensified by COVID is the dependency on foreign food supply and the extensive travel that comes with certain crops. There is a clear awareness of locally produced food.
• With our solutions farmers do get the resources and flexibility to expand and grow locally. The path planning tool allows complicated crop plans like strip tillage where multiple crops are grown next to eachother increasing biodiversity and local availability of a broader range of crops.
• The wealth of data that is collected with the machines – and we consider the farmer to be the owner of this data - will give the farmers a very powerful position all the way at the start of the food supply chain. The farmers can proof where the products were grown, how much fertilizer and chemicals were used, perform growth & yield predictions providing them with a powerful position towards distributors and retailers down the food supply chain.
• But most importantly by taking the driver out of the equation farmers can start to change the principles with which we cultivate our soils today. There is no more need for massive machines doing combined operations because only 1 operator is available to do the job. We can go back to splitting certain tasks which is better for the soil and the crops, and will lead to higher yields. We need to consider our soil as a non-renewable resource and stop the current trend of “bigger is better” that will inevitably lead to erosion and ultimately desertification. With our solutions we can accomplish that and based on the conversations we have with farmers they do realize that this change is now at their doorstep. It is great to see that our solutions start to make them wonder why they do things the way do now.