INDUSTRY NEWS
High tech harvest machinery
ABOVE : Orchard Machinery Corp ' s ( OMC ) shaker with supervised autonomy completing orchard hygiene work . TOP RIGHT : Flory Industries sales manager Julie Dugo says the company ' s new Visionsteer technology will help make orchard sweeping safer and more reliable . BOTTOM RIGHT : OMC President Brian Anderson with the company ' s new shaker with supervised autonomy .
TWO of the major manufacturers of almond harvesting equipment are making significant enhancements to their machinery . Orchard Machinery Corporation ’ s ( OMC ) new shaker with supervised autonomy has just arrived in Australia . OMC ’ s President Brian Andersen said the shaker can be put in a row and it will get from one end to the other with nobody around . “ We can adjust for trees leaning in and out , adjust speed , we can steer , we can skip dead trees ,” he said . In addition to shaking the almonds from the trees , the machine is also collecting other information . “ We ’ re also videoing , so as we ’ re going through we ’ re collecting data at the same time , so we ’ re looking at tree structure , drivable surfaces , obstacles as well ," Mr Andersen said . Currently the machinery needs to be turned manually at the end of each row , but Mr Andersen said it will be capable of doing whole end row turning by the end of the 2025 harvest . OMC ’ s shuttle trucks are also fitted with Bonsai Robotics autonomy and they can be used as tractors in the off season . “ You can take your shuttle truck from harvest , turn it into a tractor with 130 PTO horsepower and pull any implement , whether it ’ s a mower , a sprayer or a shredder ,” Mr Andersen said .
While Australian almond growers can battle with connectivity in their orchards , Mr Andersen said this isn ’ t an issue for the OMC machinery . “ We are navigating the orchard strictly on a vision base , we take 2D cameras and make it into a 3D space and we navigate through that , creating AV lines from tree to tree in order to navigate , in a fully GPS denied environment ,” he said . “ When we do have connectivity we can download that information or we can reassess our location as well .” Mr Andersen said in the US , where OMC is based , the equipment is getting good feedback from early adopters , but he ’ s expecting even greater demand in Australia . “ We find people in Australia are more aggressive , are early adopters because of labour concerns , so they are excited to put this stuff in the field and get that labour reduction ,” he said . The autonomy is expected to appeal to the larger orchards where four or more machines can be managed by a single operator . “ There ’ s an economy of scale , in ROI , because of the speed of the machine without human intervention , you can see an increase in speed of almost 50 % alone , just by the machinery part of it , but then when you pull out the operator it ’ s more ,” Mr Andersen said .
Flory Industries has also been working with Bonsai Robotics to enhance its products . The company ’ s sales manager , Julie Dugo , said Visionsteer technology uses artificial intelligence ( AI ) and sophisticated computer vision models to make orchard sweeping safer and more reliable . “ Visionsteer works in dusty orchard conditions , using a neutral network ( AI ) that can detect objects through dust particles ,” she said . “ The vision system is also resilient to vibration and debris commonly found in orchards .” Ms Dugo said the V62 with Visionsteer can be used 24 hours a day and allows novice sweeper operators to perform like seasoned veterans . “ Bonsai ’ s advanced AI vision system ensures continuous 360 degree coverage and is trained to identify and respond appropriately to vehicles , humans , animals , trees , obstructions and other objects ,” she said . The technology is also set to get better with time . “ Over the air updates ensure the system is always running the latest software ,” Ms Dugo said . “ These updates deliver critical fixes , new features and improvements to the system that continually improve and optimise operational efficiency .”
industry . australianalmonds . com . au
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