Robot Tractors Plant Seeds for the Future

Automated machines now tested in Illinois

by The Associted Press

Urbana, Ill.—A tractor loaded with the latest technology cuts a straight line through an Illinois corn field, planting crops along a two-mile stretch before making a U-turn and heading back the other way.

There's just one thing missing: a driver.

Well, at least a human driver. An assortment of gizmos, including a gyroscope and a global positioning system, are doing the driving.

The technology was developed by University of Illinois agricultural engineers who have spent the last three years working with two of the country's largest farm equipment makers to create a completelu automated tractor.

"What we needed, so to speak, is an artificial human—eyes, brain and hands," said Qin Zhang, who headed the university's research.

Zhang and his research team equipped four Case IH tractors with a gyroscope, GPS, video camera and computer, enabling the tractos to guide themselves — turns and all — through corn and soybean fields used to test the system.

The GPS receives positioning signals from a satellite, the camera tracks the path of the tractor relative to the crop rows, and the vehicle motion sensor monitos speed, pitch and implement use. The information is fed into a computer, which steers tje tractor through the field.

One of the tractos operated without a human driver for the past two planting seasons. In one test, researchers programmed the tractor to drive itself from garage to field, where it planted several acres of crops before returning to the garage — all on its own.

"All the tools are there to do it. We've shown that. It's really to the stage of making some refinements," said John Reid, who helped design the system and is manager of intelligent vehicle systems and John Deere.

Tractors using the self-guided technology could operate at night in the fog. They also go fater and, because of the GPS sustem, are accurate within a couple of inches, meaning higher yeilds because farmers can plant more rows of crops.

Cpmpanies such as John Deere and CNH Global have begun to release scaled-down versions of the technology. Currently, farmers can buy GPS-guided equipment that helps with positioning on straight-aways, though the farmer still has to sit in the cab to turn the tractor. Robotic machinery similar to that being developed for tractors aslo has been used in high-risk mining for several years.

Few doubt the technology works, but the question is when it will be ready for commercial use.

Cost may be a tougher issue, with Zhang estimating a self-guiding system at more than $100,000. That's more than a tractor itself costs.

Tim Green, who grows corn near Peoria, wonders whether the technology will ever be affordable for farmers.

"All that new technology is nice. But with the way corn proces have been, I don't see how it's really going to make me any more money," Green said.

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