Italian firm Agricobots aims to improve agriculture’s safety record and address the lack of labour available in the industry with its Atomatika system.
The fully autonomous machine is powered by a 75hp Perkins engine and runs on a tracked chassis with dual hydrostatic pumps.
The body is just 1,600mm, while the differential steering at the tracks allows for it to turn sharply on short headlands without damaging the crop. Notably, the company says the system can handle gradients of up to 70%, reaching areas that conventional machinery could not.
The hydraulic system can produce up to 93 litres/min and, more importantly, it comes with a three-point hitch so that it can be used with standard implements on the farm. It is also available with a 1,000-litre atomiser for spraying operations.
For operation, it uses the company’s own Mind (multisensory integrated navigation and drive) system, with +/-2cm accuracy, machine vision and sensors to monitor location and pathways.
A single pass is reportedly enough to create a map with rows, headlands, gradients and fixed obstacles, and the system is independent of third parties, meaning that no outside information can interfere with the guidance or the safety features.