Agriculture is the essential first step in food production, yet the industry faces continued pressure to increase productivity, efficiency, and meet the challenges of evolving government policy. To respond to these demands, Agriculture 4.0 represents the integration of modern technologies, where robotics in agriculture is becoming increasingly important. This involves the use of robotics and automated techniques, managed and monitored via cloud computing with real-time data, to revolutionize the industry.
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The Role of Agricultural Robotics in Modern Farming
Central to these technological advances, and a fundamental cog in Agriculture 4.0, is the DC motor, crucial to enable the precise motion required for this new agricultural technology. DC motors achieve the most efficient form of rotary motion, important for the growing potential of battery-powered devices, and they enable easy integration with IoT technologies, allowing for real-time adjustments and data-driven decision-making. Vital for real-world use in agricultural environments, the robust design of DC motors also ensures low maintenance.
How Automation in Agriculture is Changing Farming Practices
The Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR), or agribot, is a prime example of the advantages of Agriculture 4.0 technology. As agribots become increasingly deployed and economically feasible compared to traditional farming methods, they offer the potential to transform farming. Agribots are gaining traction in the market due to drivers such as the high cost of herbicides and labor, as well as increased scrutiny on environmental practices. These robots are designed to perform tasks including mechanical weeding, fruit picking, precision seeding, and even manure scraping and feeding in the livestock sector.
Though many AMRs integrate sophisticated opti/geo guidance systems, they must still be safe and easy to operate. Agribots rely on DC motors for driving their wheels as well as manipulating tools or equipment. These motors and their controls need to provide precision, and as they are required to operate seasonally in dynamic environmental conditions, they’ve got to be highly durable.
Farm Automation and the Rise of UAVs in Agriculture
Meanwhile, advances in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have led to the growth in the agri-drone sector for tasks such as spraying, seeding, mapping, and inspecting crops and livestock. The advantage of these drones lies in a reduction in costs and lower water consumption with targeted and precise application of sprays and fertilizers based on real-time data. This also has environmental benefits by minimizing chemical and water usage through selective spraying techniques. While drones are not constrained by difficult terrain, they don’t cause soil compaction either.
DC motors provide the drone with propulsion through the propellers as well as powering auxiliary equipment such as pumps for spraying or gimbals for cameras. This means that safety, reliability, and energy efficiency are key factors in motor choice for drone design. The integration of automation in agriculture through drones is creating a more efficient farming landscape.
The Importance of Automated Farming Systems for Vertical Farming
Another developing sector enabled by the advantages of Agri 4.0 is vertical farming. Though this approach is currently confined to high-value cropping systems such as leafy greens, herbs, strawberries, and tomatoes, it offers year-round production regardless of weather. It can also be set up in urban areas, minimizing the distance from farm to fork. Here, adjustable lighting and ventilation systems are required to ensure the optimal climate. Across these applications, DC motors are typically required to drive ventilation and climate control systems, as well as smart irrigation, delta planting, and to power robots involved in harvesting.
The Growing Demand on Motion Systems in Agricultural Robotics
The requirements of these applications are placing new demands on the motion systems responsible for powering and controlling them. To optimize the kind of robotic coordination necessary for a gripper to pick a strawberry without damaging it, the motion system must have highly precise control. From a motor standpoint, fruit-picking robots often share some interesting similarities with prosthetics, despite their apparent differences. Both systems require high dexterity and precision using sensors and feedback systems.
For applications like these, coreless DC motor technology is increasingly relied on instead of traditional motor designs with iron rotors. A coreless design provides very low cogging, which is the jerky motion otherwise caused by the magnetic interaction between an iron rotor and stator. Instead, a coreless motor gives smooth control, supporting precision and careful product management.
The Benefits of Compact and Efficient Motion Systems in Robotics in Agriculture
Out in the field, robots are increasingly used in swarms of more compact, lightweight designs rather than fewer numbers of very large machines, as this approach increases efficiency and redundancy over downtime. Taking drones, for example, motion systems need to offer a high torque-to-mass ratio, which reduces the size of the motor required, instead enabling the robot to carry a greater payload. As a result, compact and power-dense DC motors, which are also smaller and lighter than their AC counterparts, will have a key role to play in farm automation. Technology like coreless designs, that also reduce weight, will again be relied on.
Energy efficiency is also crucial to reduce demand on batteries, so brushless DC (BLDC) motor technology will also be important. This motor design, such as maxon’s EC motor range, uses electronic commutation, which minimizes energy losses compared to brushed DC motors.
Ensuring Long-Term Durability of Motion Systems in Agricultural Robotics
To ensure real-world use, robots will also have to endure tough conditions. Robots might need to operate at all times of the year, in various weather conditions, and in different locations worldwide. As a result, motion systems must ensure repeatable performance and long-term durability, vital to prevent downtime. The implementation of automated farming systems will play a critical role in enabling robots to handle the diverse challenges of modern agriculture.
Looking Ahead: The Role of Robotics in Agriculture for Future Farming
Right now, introducing robots in farming is still relatively limited. A combination of high capital costs and inexperience has also led to farmers considering the Robotics-as-a-Service business model. The concept involves an operating and service contract with the machine manufacturer instead of purchasing the whole system outright. Where the work is seasonal and often provides just a short window of time, Robotics-as-a-Service minimizes the challenges and costs of downtime in the middle of a harvest, as the manufacturer can provide a replacement or rapid service for most stoppages.
While the use of robotics in agriculture isn’t common to every farm across the UK and Europe, the advantages it could provide in productivity and efficiency mean that we can continue to expect its introduction to a more diverse range of farms over the next two to five years. This is especially true given the reduced agricultural labor force. As this happens, the reliance on DC motor technology and other motion systems will become increasingly important for the next generation of automated farming systems.
