The Spirit has many new features that previous tractors do
not. It operates off diesel-electric similar to a train. It has twin four
cylinder 202 horsepower diesel engines to produce electricity. The advantages
of diesel-electric drive systems are increased fuel economy, no transmission,
and reduced maintenance. A second feature would be the remote wireless control
system. This system allows for up to sixteen Autonomous Tractors to be
monitored from one control station less than twenty-five miles from the
machine. Another new feature is the dual APS systems (Area Positioning System).
This system was developed by ATC because they determined that Global
Positioning System (GPS) was not reliable enough to operate a self-driven
machine. ATC expects that the APS will be accurate within an inch using lasers,
computers, and radio-transmissions for navigation. The machine is driven on
twenty-five inch rubber tracks powered by four electric motors. Having these
motors eliminates the need for a transmission, differential, and axle, which are
all costly to build, maintain and repair.
As of now the Spirit does have some limitations compared to
what other tractors can accomplish. One limitation is that it cannot handle
some of the equipment for conventional tillage. The reason for this is that the
tractor’s design makes it to light to pull some modern equipment. The Spirit
weighs in at about half the weight of the biggest traditional tractors built. A
plus side to this is that the Spirit decreases soil compaction and can operate
on wetter fields compared to before. Another effect of the Spirit is that it decreases
labor. This decrease is good and bad depending what perspective you look at it.
It is good for the farmer because it lowers the cost to put in crops not having
to pay for labor. The other perspective is that it could be bad for the economy
because it decreases the number of jobs needed, which could increase
unemployment.
ATC figures the cost to build the Spirit is going to be
about half that of a traditional tractor. The reason for this is that the
machine does not have gears, shafts, and a transmission like a modern tractor.
ATC intends to build 25 tractors for 2013 and sell them to farmers at a twenty
percent discount to get farmers to invest in this new product. The Autonomous
Tractor is new technology that could have a huge impact on agriculture in the
future.
Being a farmer myself I'm interested in this sort of thing. There was a presentation at the National Farm Machinery Show. The presenters talked about "mirror" tractors. That means that they will follow exactly what the first tractor is doing that is manually operated. It seems to be a very promising technology especially for using grain carts while combining. The other thing I thought about is that I know how to work on conventional tractors but not diesel electric outfits. I will be interesting to see how quickly things like this catch on.
ReplyDeleteThis is a cool technology to be used in farmers. Farmers will love to use this kind of tractor in their fields. How much does this kind of a tractor roughly costs? because I have no idea of the cost of an ordinary tractor.
ReplyDeleteThey hope to sell this tractor at approximatly half that of a traditional tractor. I believe the orginal amount was around 200,000 dollars.
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