E-Delivery

ROBOTS AND AUTONOMOUS EQUIPMENT: COMING SOON TO A FARM NEAR YOU! RISE OF THE MACHINES Many of the technologies surrounding us today stem from science fi c on, Hollywood fi lms and the unleashed imagina ons of their creators. We fi rst saw tablets in Star Trek, robo c vacuums in the Jetsons (1962) and fl ying cars in Back to the Future. Okay, perhaps we are a few years off on that last predic on. Some may recall the recent 2014 fi lm Interstellar where Ma hew McConaughey stars as a re red NASA pilot servicing a fl eet of autonomous combines. Sound like the future? Autonomous combines have already been piloted and demonstrated in fi elds. The future is now. One of the pioneers and leading fi rms in autonomous agricultural space is DOT Technology Corpora on. DOT is an autonomous diesel powered, hydraulically-driven pla orm designed to carry DOT-Ready implements. Norbert Beujot, Founder and President of SeedMaster, recognized that effi ciencies could be found in not only seeding opera ons, but also in many other farming opera ons. The cost and ability to retain skilled labour on the farm is becoming more challenging, and autonomous implements, robo cs and new technologies are showing great promise to push the boundaries of what is possible. "There are currently four diff erent DOT-Ready implements including a 30-foot seeder, 60-foot sprayer, a 41-foot land roller and a 500 bu grain cart," said Trent Meyer, Execu ve Vice President with DOT Technology Corpora on. "There are already 20 to 30 manufacturers who have expressed interest in fi ng their products on our pla orm and over 100 implements which we have considered as possibly fi ts, not only for agriculture applica ons. This pla orm was designed to enable others to build to fi t with as few barriers to entry as possible." The rate at which agricultural producers across the Canadian Prairies adopt new technology is dizzying and will likely not stop any me soon. The advances in so ware and algorithms are allowing Con nued on Page 14 1 2

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