A system for performing autonomous agriculture within an agriculture production environment includes one or more agriculture pods, a stationary robot system, and one or more mobile robots. The agriculture pods include one or more plants and one or more sensor modules for monitoring the plants. The stationary robot system collects sensor data from the sensor modules, performs farming operations on the plants according to an operation schedule based on the collected sensor data, and generates a set of instruction for transporting the agriculture pods within the agriculture production environment. The stationary robot system communicates the set of instructions to the agriculture pods. The mobile robots transport the agriculture pods between the stationary robot system and one or more other locations within the agriculture production environment according to the set of instructions.

A selection support device that supports selection of a work machine to be used for work from among a plurality of work machines, the selection support device including: a history information acquisition unit configured to acquire history information on a use history of each work machine; a specifying unit configured to specify a degree of use of each work machine based on the history information; and a selection unit configured to preferentially select a work machine with a small degree of use as a work machine to be used for work.

A controller for an agricultural sprayer machine is configured to receive for each of a plurality of nozzle sets a respective upper pressure limit, a nozzle reference flow, and a nozzle reference pressure. For each one of the plurality of nozzle sets, a speed setpoint is calculated based upon the application rate setpoint, the nozzle reference flow, the nozzle reference pressure, and the product pressure setpoint.

The invention relates to a method for assisting in the pruning of a plant (10) implemented by an electronic apparatus (21), comprising the following steps: a. equipping an electronic device (12; 22; 32) comprising a display area (16; 26; 36), and a camera (18; 28; 38); b. taking at least one image of the plant (10) to be pruned using the camera (18; 28; 38) of the electronic device (12; 22; 32); c. using a machine-learning engine (30) previously trained with training data to determine cutting instructions; and d. displaying the cutting instructions on the display area (16; 26; 36) of the electronic device overlaid over the real image of the plant. The invention also relates to a system (40) for assisting in the pruning of a plant which is intended to implement the above method.

A distributed control system for use in an assembly line grow pod includes a master controller and a hardware controller device. The master controller includes a first processor and a first memory for storing a first set of instructions that dictates plant growing operations and a second set of instructions that dictates a plurality of distributed control functions. The hardware controller device is coupled to the master controller via a plug-in network interface. The hardware controller device includes a second processor and a second memory for storing a third set of instructions that dictate a selected control function of the plurality of distributed control functions. Upon the plug-in connection, the master controller identifies an address of the hardware controller device and sends a set of parameters defining a plurality of tasks relating to the selected control function.

A controller for an agricultural sprayer machine is configured to receive for each of a plurality of nozzle sets a respective upper pressure limit, a nozzle reference flow, and a nozzle reference pressure. For each one of the plurality of nozzle sets, a speed setpoint is calculated based upon the application rate setpoint, the nozzle reference flow, the nozzle reference pressure, and the product pressure setpoint.

A combine harvester has multiple working mechanisms for carrying out specific treatment subprocesses of an overall treatment process for processing crop and a driver assistance system for controlling the working mechanisms, which includes a memory for storing data, a computing device for processing the data stored in the memory, and a graphical user interface. The driver assistance system, together with the particular working mechanisms provided for carrying out the treatment subprocesses, forms independently operating automated adjusting mechanisms which are utilized for optimizing the control of the working mechanisms for carrying out the treatment subprocesses. A process supervisor is assigned to the driver assistance system for controlling individual automated adjusting mechanisms and a data exchange of the automated adjusting mechanisms with one another. The process supervisor is configured for interacting with an operator to edit at least one parameter of at least one control process, which has been stored in the memory for actuation by the process supervisor.

An autonomous vehicle apparatus and method for performing pruning operations on a plant being cultivated in a container is disclosed. The apparatus includes a wheeled chassis operably configured to autonomously navigate to a location of the container within a workspace. The apparatus also includes a plant support operable to receive and secure the container in an upright condition with respect to a vertical axis extending generally vertically through the container and the plant. The apparatus further includes a manipulator mounted to the vehicle and operable to grasp and load the container onto the plant support, and a pruning tool mounted on the vehicle and disposed to prune the plant while causing rotational movement of at least one of the pruning tool and the container about the vertical axis.

The application relates to a method for an automatic movement of a working device that comprises a control and at least two components movable independently of one another by means of a respective one actuator controllable by the control. The control has a learning mode and a work through mode, wherein the working device is automatically traveled from a first position into a second position by a corresponding control of the actuators in the work through mode. In the learning mode, the control detects data relating to the individual movements of the components during a movement of the working device and stores them, with the control of the actuators taking place during the automatic movement on the basis of these data in the work through mode. A parameter of the automatic movement is settable by the operator. The application further relates to a working device carrying out of the method application.

In general terms, the present invention provides a passively compliant robotic arm having one or more variable stiffness joints controllable by first and second bi-directional actuators that can be independently operated. Each bi-directional actuator may be operable in a first configuration to urge the joint in a first direction, and in a second configuration to urge the joint in a second direction opposite to the first direction. The bi-directional actuators may be operated in a cooperating mode (high torque mode) in which they work in tandem (i.e. both in the first configuration or second configuration) to double the available torque output. The bi-directional actuators may also (or alternatively) be operated in a high stiffness mode (antagonist mode) in which they counter-act each other by operating so that they oppose one another (i.e. one in the first configuration and the other in the second configuration). The high torque mode may be utilised for an initial portion of a movement trajectory, and the antagonist mode for a final portion of the movement trajectory. The relatively high stiffness in the high stiffness/antagonist mode results from the combined effects of the non-linear force-deflection relationship of the first and second resilient members. The resilient members may each comprise an elastic element, tendon or other resilient member that can be stretched (elongated) to increase tension therein and thereby urge the joint to move.