Yanmar's robotic tractors bring autonomous vehicles out to farm
Osaka, JAPAN - We've had autonomous cars, autonomous trucks, and autonomous buses, and now Osaka-based diesel engine manufacturer Yanmar is introducing a new line of robotic tractors.
Yanmar's YT5113A robot tractor (Credit: Yanmar)
On 1 October 2018, the company is releasing its two-series tractors equipped with the Smartpilot autonomous operating system and information and communications technology (ICT) that allow them to operate in autonomous and semi-autonomous modes.
Plowing a field is a lot more than just running a tractor up and down a field. It's actually a highly skilled job that requires significant training and practice to create a uniform pattern of rows that are properly spaced and follow the contours of the land in a way that minimizes erosion.
According to Yanmar, its unmanned Robot Tractors and semi-autonomous Auto Tractors are designed to not only decrease the need for manual labour, but also the need for trained drivers to perform high-precision field work – a particularly important factor in a country like Japan with large farms that are facing an aging agricultural workforce.
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