PHOTO: deere.com WATCH THE VIDEO 20 Let the machine do the work. That’s John Deere’s baseline thinking when it comes to its autonomous tillage technology. “It’s taking the decision points the operator would’ve made and automating those using technology so the machine can operate without someone physically there in the cab,” Ryan Jardon, a marketing manager with John Deere, told Precision Ag Digest. John Deere achieves its autonomous capabilities by bundling multiple pieces of technology together. That includes the G5 Plus display and the features within it like AutoTrac and AutoPath, the StarFire receiver, and JD Link connections. These technologies allow the machine to run autonomously but with a farmer still inside the cab, Jardon said. A new vision system, however, brings full autonomy into the fold. The system is made up of six pairs of stereo cameras mounted on a tractor, providing a 360-degree view of the tractor and its surroundings. “It’s watching for anomalies and making adjustments accordingly,” Jardon said. “Safety is the number one priority for us when it comes to autonomy. The algorithms are learning what is safe and what isn’t, and when it notices something it doesn’t recognize, it stops immediately.” Bringing a product like this to market takes years of research. Data collection and image building must be comprehensive to ensure accuracy, Jardon said. “We’re learning what crops look like next to a fence line, or how they look at different times of the day,” he said. “We’re building confidence in those systems so they can run with as few false readings as possible.” A feature of autonomous technology is its customization. Farmers can set varying degrees of depth and gang angles, and TruSet Active ensures the tillage is being done correctly. “It’ll monitor if the actual depth is different than the prescribed depth is, and the machine will self-adjust,” Jardon said. Another advantage of autonomy is its consistency. AUTONOMOUS TILLAGE FROM JOHN DEERE Autonomy helps farmers in multiple ways DIEGO FLAMMINI FARMS.COM
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