Design and Fabrication of Miniature Autonomous Farming Tractor

Project Title

Design and Fabrication of Miniature Autonomous Farming Tractor

Project Area of Specialization Mechatronics EngineeringProject Summary

The concept of autonomous farming has been around for almost a century now, first proposed and developed by Frank W. Andrew. Followed by Ford in the 1950’s called the Sniffer, but they never got to the production phase because of the limitations of technology in that period of time. Not until 1994, when the technological advancements had reached a certain level of satisfaction provided by image analysis systems by Silsoe Research Institute.

The need for efficient farming in today’s world is of utmost importance. Efficient farming is a solution to sustainable agriculture which provides durability against climate change. Sustainable agriculture systems use minimal energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly. With the advancements in EV technology, many automobile manufacturers around the globe are moving towards electric vehicles. These include motorbikes, cars, tractors and trucks. Many public transportation companies are adapting EV solutions for their vehicles. Battery technologies are getting better and better every year, providing a cost effective and durable solution to almost every power reliable system. Still many underdeveloped countries are unable to make progress in these areas of development because of either lack of expertise in modern technology or the technology is still expensive. 

Autonomous farming tractors will encounter an increase in market demand in a few years as the industries around the globe adapt to smarter and sustainable machines for higher productivity and lesser energy consumption. Autonomy/automation technology is already mature enough to take up the task. Tesla, an electric vehicle manufacturer, have already tested an autonomous vehicle driving from Los Angeles to New York completely driverless. 

John Deere, a leading manufacturer of agricultural, construction and forestry machinery, and they believe in electric tractors. John Deere’s vision is:

• Electrification

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and

• Automation and autonomy

Modern agricultural technology has two goals; to get the maximum possible yield and at the best economical rate. Another goal of modern industry is to use technology which is environmentally friendly to keep the global climate in control or reduce it to a significant extent. Companies like John Deere and CaseI are working on producing advanced farming systems which use next generation batteries and induction motors that can produce sufficient torque to power up a heavy tractor. Combined with IOT and AI systems, there is limited or no need for a human to have any interaction with the machines or the farm. Farmers can sit back and rely on these machines to do their work efficiently. 

Project Objectives

• To achieve a sustainable mechanical design for the autonomous tractor.

• Implementation of electrifying the power drive for driving the tractor.

• Design and fabrication of implements behind the tractor for ploughing and harvesting.

• To cater all the needs of the traditional tractor into an autonomous tractor.

• Implementation of autonomous driving.

  • Lateral Control

  • Longitudinal Control

  • Object/Event Detection

• Providing human interaction with the tractor.

• To spread awareness about the technology advancements in the industrial sector.

Project Implementation Method

The design of the project encompases around the cutting edge engineering techniques with modern agile methodology of iterative development. The project will be designed in such a way that each member of the team will have predefined tasks. The project tasks will be divided into Sprints, and each sprint comprising two weeks. At the end of each sprint, the Project Advisor will evaluate the progress and further improvements will be made if necessary.

Management and Collaboration tools will allow the team to learn and practice methods used in the modern industry. Agile project management aims to mold an organization to fluidly respond to changes or developments in projects as they occur, rather than follow a fixed set of linear criteria.

Benefits of the Project

There are no limitations on the benefits of this project, as there are countless opportunities that can arise with the successful implementation of the prototype. The main objective behind this project is to provide our agricultural sector with the opportunity to learn and benefit from technology. Technological advancement in agriculture is really a necessity in the rapidly growing population around the world both in terms of quality and quantity. The right amount of fertilizers, water and other important nutrients that are important for the farming land must be handled carefully. 

As the demand increases, the production should also be increased, which means more land to be farmed and looked after. To cater all these needs, an autonomous farming tractor will be the ideal friend of a farmer in upcoming years. Many companies are prototyping their own Autonomous tractors which will cater efficient farming. It is estimated that in a decade or so, many advanced countries like the USA and Germany will have employed autonomous tractors for rapid and quality production. 

Almost all of the automobile manufacturers are already moving towards Electric vehicles as an alternative to combustion engines. So, moving towards electric solutions for the farming tractors will also play a huge role in reducing global warming. Global warming is an alarming situation right now and everyone needs to pay attention to it in making Earth habitable.

Further Benefits of the Project:

Wheat farming occupies more land than any other crop farming across the world, approximately near to 220.4 million hectares (544.6 million acres). The world trade of wheat is also the largest across the globe than all the other crops combined. Farmers work tirelessly to farm wheat and it requires great care of the fields to produce the right quality and quantity. Wheat farming is labor extensive and a costly domain in agriculture. This is the reason why many companies are adapting smart machines to cover up for this global requirement. Our project will stand out as one of those machines that can take care of the wheat farming with minimal human interaction and provide the best quality and quantity of wheat. 

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

A working prototype which will fully demonstrate the true purpose and need of automation in the farming industry.

• Market research and advanced Analytics.

• 3D Cad designs and Analysis.

• Efficient electrical system to drive the vehicle for half an hour.

• Implementation of Autonomous driving. algorithm on both hardware and software.

• The tractor will control its latitudinal and longitudinal motion, and with the help of sensors will stop once detected an obstacle.

• With the help of GPS, and feedback controllers, the tractor will determine its orientation and position, and will continue to follow its predetermined path.

• Object detection with live camera feed and image recognition algorithm.

• Design and fabrication of lightweight tractor implements which will help ploughing and harvesting.

Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry AgricultureOther Industries IT Core Technology Artificial Intelligence(AI)Other Technologies Internet of Things (IoT)Sustainable Development Goals Affordable and Clean Energy, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Climate ActionRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	75500
ATV Chassis	Equipment	1	8000	8000
Tyres	Equipment	4	2000	8000
DC Motor 36-V 19-A	Equipment	1	15000	15000
Dry Cell Batteries 12V	Equipment	3	5500	16500
AC to DC converter	Equipment	1	2000	2000
Camera Sensor	Equipment	1	1500	1500
Raspbery Pi Controller	Equipment	1	3000	3000
Mounts Fabrication	Miscellaneous	1	6000	6000
Sheet fabrication	Miscellaneous	1	4000	4000
Stepper Motor	Equipment	1	3500	3500
Gears Set	Equipment	2	2500	5000
Suspension	Equipment	4	500	2000
Wiring Set	Equipment	1	1000	1000