04 HORSCH and Trimble are working together to bring autonomous sprayers to the market. The companies announced the partnership in 2021 to bring autonomous solutions to HORSCH’s selfpropelled PT and VL sprayers. The plan is to bring new automation functionalities for the sprayers to market in 2024. The collaboration is currently in what Trimble describes as autonomous level two plus. “It’s still a vehicle that requires an operator, but can verify all the machine functions because we are driving the machine with additional automations,” said Marcelo Lehmen, an autonomy product manager with Trimble Ag. “We are not yet to a level where we can remove the operator from the cab.” Trimble describes its automation package with HORSCH as full field execution. It’s a combination of three major components. One – Trimble’s path planning tool, which it announced in February 2023. This technology offers automated, full path, complete project trajectory from entry to exit, including logistics points. The second part of the equation is the machine’s execution itself. “We take that information, that trajectory, and execute it,” Lehmen said. “That also includes some logistics capabilities like driving the vehicle to a refueling point and driving it back to the resume point.” The third component of the execution package is speed control. This technology allows for executing the planned speeds across each segment of the sprayer. “We are communicating with the machine about what target speed it should take,” Lehmen said. Application control wasn’t part of the collaboration with HORSCH, but the company does have products like WeedSeeker 2, an automatic spot spray system, and its recently acquired green-on-green spraying solution, Bilberry, a Trimble company. But the available technologies help support application quality, Lehmen said. “In the European market, users want to apply when they move perpendicular to the trajectory,” he said. “The software can give them that possibility because the entire trajectory will be calculated in that way.” Altogether, the autonomous sprayer capabilities offer significant value to farmers using different production techniques. Producers engaged in controlled traffic farming practices, for example, could benefit from these technologies. AUTONOMOUS SPRAYER COLLABORATION BETWEEN HORSCH AND TRIMBLE The options will be available on HORSCH’s PT and VL sprayers DIEGO FLAMMINI FARMS.COM PHOTO: horsch.com
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