“The Agrokoncernas Group” has started real-life testing of “AgXeed“, the first agricultural robot in the Baltic States. For more than a week, an autonomous machine has been working in the field at the Group’s Ateities ūky (Future Farm) in the Radviliškis district. “Just a year ago, when I visited an exhibition in Germany and saw this robot, the idea that it could work in Lithuanian fields was just a dream, and now we are witnesses of this important event in the history of the country’s agriculture,” said Arnas Radzevičius, Commercial Manager of Agrokoncernas, as he watched the machine working in a field. It was his initiative that made Lithuania the first Baltic country to employ a robot for monotonous agricultural work. With no cab and no human behind the wheel, a self-driving car that turns its wheels on its own outdoors baffles many a passing motorist. You can see how many people stop on the side of the road and watch the process for a while. Žydrūnas Motiekaitis, Project Manager at Agrokoncernas, who is in charge of testing the robot, has no doubt that in a few years’ time, this will be an increasingly common sight in the fields. “The first testing results are very encouraging. We are currently testing the robot’s various functions and capabilities, observing and recording how it behaves in different situations. Our goal now is to collect as much data as possible, which we can then share with other farmers,” explains Ž. Motiekaitis.
The “AgXeed” robot is controlled by a dedicated remote control and can only be started when its controller is nearby. However, if you have done your homework – accurately measured the field coordinates with a GPS receiver and entered them into the software, and if you have recorded possible obstacles such as poles, trees, large puddles or other objects in the field – you can leave the autonomous machine to work alone. Sensors on board detect the environment, allowing the robot to slow down or stop and automatically switch off if it detects an obstacle. As it works, it sends notifications directly to the manager via the mobile app, grouping them into informational alerts, as well as alerts of low and high importance. If the robot stops or switches off, it also sends a message with the reason why. “We have been testing what happens if an obstacle suddenly appears in front of the robot. It automatically stops and switches off the engine. We also specifically marked only part of the puddle outside because we wanted to see how it would behave if it fell into water. After a bit of driving, it sent a message that there was too much track slack and switched off. We drove the robot out of the puddle using the remote control”, says a tester of the autonomous machine.
The robot has now mowed more than 30 hectares of fields. The 150 horsepower diesel-powered machine has a top speed of 13.5 kilometres per hour. Together with the agricultural implement attached to it, “AgXeed” weighs around 10 tonnes. “Although it takes time to prepare, if the robot is working in the same field, its data can be saved and no further action is needed next time. Learning how to work with parameters may seem complicated, but with more practice the process becomes simpler and quicker,” says Ž. Motiekaitis. The robot will soon be tested on other farms of the Agrokoncernas Group. You can see how the robot works in the field under real conditions here: https://youtu.be/QeBWHMObqH4
