A digging tool has a pair of handles, each with a hand-grasping portion that provides comfortable manipulation, and each with a lower handle member that couples into a shovel assembly. Each one of the pair of shovel assemblies has a shovel blade and is provided with a suitable foot ledge. Each shovel assembly is formed with the shovel blade on one end, and on a second end distal to the blade a channel encompasses and reinforces a handle contained therein. A pair of plate and fastener combinations cooperate with at least one longitudinally extensive slot in each channel, to allow each shovel assembly to independently reciprocate longitudinally parallel or co-axially with respect to the associated handle. A hinge is provided between and couples each of the two handles together pivotally, preferably relatively more closely to the blade than the hand-grasping portion to provide good mechanical advantage.

Disclosed are solutions for an autonomous vehicle to real-time detect and determine dynamic and/or obscured obstacles to support navigation and services to within a desired proximity of said obstacles. Certain such implementations are specifically directed to autonomous mowers, for example, capable of real-time object detection to determine location and orientation of solar panels in a solar farm, for example, and based on the location and orientation of such solar panels further determine the location of their corresponding posts that may be otherwise obstructed from direct detection by the autonomous mower's other sensing systems possibly due to vegetation growth around the posts or other reasons.

An apparatus for harvesting rhizomes includes a chassis to move in a field. Coulter disks mounted on a forward end of the chassis break up soil on a top surface of the field. Digger blades aft of the coulter disks scoop clusters of rhizomes from the field with adhered soil. An inclined ramp on the chassis has a live bottom that pushes the rhizome clusters up the ramp in the aft direction including upright posts that force the clusters of rhizomes against depending obstructers extending downward from superstructure bars toward the live bottom. As the clusters encounter the obstructers, the clusters are broken to reduce their size and to loosen and separate soil from the rhizomes. A collector aft of the live bottom collects rhizomes falling from an aft end of the inclined ramp.

A disposable article infused with an insect repellant and method of making the same. The disposable article includes an outer, water absorbent layer, an inner, waterproof layer and an insect repellant applied to the outer layer. The disposable article can be fabric gowns, shoe-covers, leg coverings, hand coverings, arm coverings, head coverings, body coverings, face coverings, full body coverings and chuck pads. In certain embodiments, the outer, water absorbent layer is spun-bonded polypropylene. In other embodiments, the outer, water absorbent layer is spun-bonded polyester. The inner, waterproof layer can be cast polyethylene. The insect repellant can include an effective amount of DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide), OLE (oil of lemon eucalyptus) and essential oils alone or in combination.