driving Archives - North America FarmQuip Magazine

Hexagon | NovAtel Delivers ROSTM 2 Compatible Drivers to the OEM7 Receiver

Michele Catinari — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 19:00:30 +0000

Hexagon | NovAtel announces the release of its second purpose-built driver, powered by the latest series of the Robot Operating System, ROS 2. The NovAtel OEM7 drivers are developed and managed by NovAtel engineers to provide an optimized interface for autonomy projects. The drivers allow for quick incorporation of NovAtel’s OEM7 receivers into custom ROS 2 based applications.

“Automation and autonomy are at the forefront of advancing the agriculture industry. The functional resilience and performance of ROS 2 paired with our OEM7 receivers speeds up integration and reduces time to market for our customers developing new equipment,”

said James Szabo, agriculture autonomy product manager.

As the integration of NovAtel’s OEM7 receiver increases in autonomy projects, algorithms for academic investigations, ride-share programs and agricultural autonomy solutions, NovAtel continues to support the growing needs of the robotics community. With the power of ROS 2, developers can create autonomous applications quicker, without the need to develop or adapt existing community drivers. Tested and supported by NovAtel and Hexagon | AutonomouStuff, the driver enables seamless access to the receiver’s GNSS and inertial capabilities so users can simultaneously utilize live, recorded and post-processed data.

“We have many users globally who have already adopted the ROS driver in unmanned operations. From tillage and viticulture operations to broadacre crop spraying. The ROS driver has shortened the transition from prototype to production, allowing users to focus on furthering their autonomous solution without the worry and complexities of third-party interfaces,”

said Eric Wuestefeld, executive vice president, agriculture.

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Fieldin Acquires Ag Autonomous Driving Company Midnight Robotics

Michele Catinari — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 18:00:52 +0000

The acquisition creates a sensor-based operational farming platform with autonomous driving technologies for the day-to-day management of farms.

Fieldin announced that it had acquired Midnight Robotics, a leader in autonomous agricultural driving. The acquisition creates a first-of-its-kind combination of a sensor-based operational farming platform with autonomous driving technologies to empower growers in the day-to-day management of their farms. Fieldin is already deploying its combined autonomous farming platform in major farms in California and plans additional deployments of the end-to-end system in the coming months.

Today, commercial farms face a wide range of challenges, including labor scarcity, water shortages, and climate change, and thus need to optimize operations and prioritize farming efficiency. Fieldin’s addition of Midnight Robotics’ deep robotic and autonomous driving technology enables an all-in-one solution to maximize accuracy and productivity on the farm. The platform collects farming data and turns it into actionable insights and now also offers guided decision-making and autonomous execution via driverless tractors and other machinery from within the same dashboard. The onboarding of these new autonomous capabilities takes under a day, with Fieldin arriving at the farm and retrofitting tractors and other farming machinery with LiDAR-based autonomy kits that feed data back to the platform in real-time.

“Many people think that autonomous tractors are some magic solution, but at the end of the day, they’re just machinery—your autonomous farm can only be as good as your farm management data, and that’s why this acquisition is driving the autonomous farming revolution forward. Over the past eight years, we’ve digitized hundreds of farms and over 10,000 tractors and pieces of farming equipment — more than anyone else in the high-value crop world — and amassed a trove of invaluable data that can offer insights into best practices in farm management. By acquiring Midnight Robotics, we’re helping farmers close the loop from insight to autonomous action, so they know exactly what they need to do and execute it autonomously, all through the same platform,”

said Boaz Bachar, CEO, and Co-Founder of Fieldin.

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BetterSoil Alliance Rewards Growers for Sustainable Achievements

Michele Catinari — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 19:00:51 +0000

Yara and Heliae Ag invite the almond industry to join them in driving practical solutions that positively impact food production by improving water productivity and soil health

Yara North America, Inc. with Heliae Agriculture, has launched the BetterSoil Alliance to support the California almond industry in the pursuit of sustainable farming practices to improve water productivity and soil health while decreasing their carbon footprint.

Through the Alliance, sustainably-focused solutions will be put to the test to understand their collective impact on critical issues the almond industry faces including water scarcity, drought, and rising temperatures; all of which are challenging the long-term viability of the almond industry.

Almond growers and advisors are invited to participate in implementing the solutions through customized crop and soil nutrition programs that will be developed by mid-November. Participants will be eligible to receive a sustainability reward based on water productivity and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), as well as recognition in the Alliance.

Data collected from participating growers’ orchards will be used to better understand the positive impact the solutions implemented in the program can have. Yara North America, Inc. and Heliae Agriculture will help fund a portion of the sustainability rewards, however, to acknowledge as many growers as possible, the companies are calling on the industry to participate through pledges to help fund the sustainability awards.

“To support the longevity of the California almond industry we are focused on bringing practical solutions that positively impact food production by improving water use productivity and soil health. We know by collaborating with others across the industry; growers, advisors, hullers, processors and food companies, for instance, we can achieve more. This is why we have launched the BetterSoil Alliance, with the belief that industry partners will come together and accelerate building out sustainable solutions through discovery and collaboration to address this urgent need,”

said Debbie Watts, VP Yara North America.

Participating growers and advisors will have access to the agronomic expertise of Yara North America, Inc. and Heliae Agriculture. Additionally, they will receive support in implementing crop nutrition and soil management solutions that include YaraLiva Calcium Nitrate; produced in Norway and featuring a very low carbon footprint, and PhycoTerra a superior, nature-based soil microbial food, specifically produced to feed the dormant microbes-including fungi and bacteria.

Yara North America, Inc. and Heliae Agriculture hope the program will help demonstrate these products together synergistically drive almond yield and quality while improving soil health and structure. Moreover, independent third-party trials show a measurable improvement in water productivity (crop per drop) when YaraLiva Calcium Nitrate and PhycoTerra products are used in tandem.

“Improving soil quality serves as the foundation to improving water use that helps optimize crop yield and quality. Between the increased consumer demand for almonds and tightening water supply in California, growers need solutions that increase yield and improve soil health and soil structure for future crops,”

said Norm Davy, Heliae Agriculture.

Source: Yara

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Junttan Brings New Line of XCMG Rotary Drilling Rigs to U.S.

Brian M. Fraley — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 16:00:07 +0000

Junttan USA, a subsidiary of Junttan Oy, has signed a dealer agreement to represent XCMG foundation drilling rigs in the United States. These rigs, custom-built by XCMG for Junttan, will be backed by a full line of drilling tools, temporary casings, shoes, drive adapters, and teeth.

Junttan USA General Manager Miika Eskelinen says,

“Junttan and XCMG will work closely to help strengthen both of our product lines in the future. Both companies share the same values of quality, trust, and partnership with our valued customers. It is with great pride that we see our U.S.-based company strengthening its products.”

Not only is XCMG one of the largest construction equipment manufacturers in the world, but it also has 20 years of experience manufacturing foundation equipment. This new partnership will expand Junttan’s product line from primarily piledriving equipment into foundation drilling equipment.

Junttan USA’s Vice President Sales & Operations Tim Dutton, who has previous experience with foundation drilling equipment, will be instrumental in guiding this expansion. He says,

“This partnership will allow Junttan to expand its already extensive line of piling rigs and bring new options to our customer base. We are proud to be partnered with an organization like XCMG.”

Junttan recognized an increase in drilled shafts in the North American foundation market and wanted to expand beyond its traditional line of piling rigs and hammers to meet the changing needs of its contractor customers. The new line of XCMG drilling rigs allows the company to provide equipment and tooling for both driven and drilled pile foundations. These rigs are designed for Kelly drilling, continuous flight auger (CFA), full displacement piles (FDP), single-column mixing (SCM), cased CFA (CCFA), and low headroom applications. Junttan USA also expects to eventually expand its technology to perform cutter soil mixing for diaphragm wall applications.

The XCMG line of drilling rigs has a large range of operating weights from 45 to 200 tons and torque values between 130 and 800 kNm. All are outfitted with Cummins engines and will be Tier 4 or greater to comply with emission standards in the U.S. Junttan USA has access to the Cummins InSite software for troubleshooting and diagnostics. This allows all engine service to be performed by Junttan technicians with no outside support from a Cummins dealer. All new products will be backed by a one-year/2,000-hour warranty and handled directly through Junttan USA.

Junttan USA will provide service, and stock a comprehensive inventory of parts for the XCMG product line at its Delaware and Florida locations. XCMG has also committed to stocking parts at its locations in Nevada, Texas, and Minnesota.

“The signing of this agreement between XCMG and Junttan USA is a mutual relationship that is built on respect and communication. We see a great opportunity to provide drilling equipment in the United States and are very happy with our new partner Junttan USA,”

says Kong Qinghua, president of XCMG Foundation Construction Machinery.

Junttan USA, Inc., a subsidiary of Junttan Oy, has signed a dealer agreement to sell and rent XCMG foundation drilling rigs in the United States.

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Wollard International and ThorDrive Announce Strategic Alliance to Produce Fully Autonomous Ground Support Equipment

Michele Catinari — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 20:00:19 +0000

The strategic alliance to produce autonomous ground support tractors will deliver enhanced safety and business efficiencies in aviation.

Wollard International and Thordrive, a full-stack developer of autonomous driving technology, announce a groundbreaking strategic alliance to produce fully autonomous ground support tractors to transport baggage and cargo for aviation ground handling operations.

After nearly one year of development, Wollard and Thordrive released a proof-of-concept autonomous ground support tractor in mid-December fully capable of operating in the planeside environment. Using lidar sensors and camera vision, the autonomous tractors have the capability to recognize common objects found in the environment such as aircraft, wing-walkers, and other vehicles and safely respond accordingly.

“Our strategic alliance with Thordrive is an important part of Wollard’s future growth strategy and an opportunity to deliver technologically advanced business efficiencies to our customers that were previously unattainable,”

said Tim Taylor, director of business development, Wollard International.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), damage to ground support equipment, other vehicles, and aircraft costs airlines and ground handling operators $4B globally each year. Additionally, hundreds of millions of dollars are spent annually on injuries to ground support personnel in the US alone.

“Safety is a critical aspect of our technology. Since we adopted it from on-road applications with thousands of miles of safe driving and have access to the planeside environment to develop and perfect our software through our partners at the Cincinnati/N. Kentucky Airport, we can be confident that our autonomous ground support tractors will deliver enhanced safety and business efficiencies for all our customers in the aviation industry and beyond,”

said Edward Shelton, VP – business development at ThorDrive.

Wollard and ThorDrive intend to maintain an aggressive schedule in 2021, just as they did in 2020.

“We intend to upfit one of our new product offerings, the M40e, an all-electric ground support tractor this year and are planning to continue the expansion in the near future with other autonomous tractors performing various planeside functions,”

commented Taylor.

“In parallel, we intend to complete the final phases of development of the autonomous software technology with the goal of having units available for sale in Q4 of 2021,”

added Shelton.

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