Next week the Rheinhessen Agricultural Days will take place in Nieder-Olm. The starting signal for the interesting lecture and discussion program is already on Monday, 21.01.2019, at 14.00 hours, with the “Tag der Rheinhessischen Landfrauen”. The machinery exhibition will then start on Wednesday, 23.01.2019. Until Friday, 25.01.2019, more than 400 exhibitors will present their products and services in the field of viticulture and fruit growing. Robot Makers GmbH will again be represented with its own booth (C004) to present the latest developments in mobile automation in this area of application.

Automation solutions for viticulture: lane guidance, automation of implements, autonomous driving

In the past years Robot Makers GmbH has built up a complete technology portfolio for the realization of the future topics of viticulture and fruit growing. Automatic lane guidance, the automation of implements and autonomous driving play an outstanding role in this context. Robot Makers GmbH offers a suitable development platform for these key technologies. This allows proven machines to be equipped with the necessary intelligence. This makes it possible to implement assistance systems through to (semi) autonomous systems that relieve the operator of his daily work and at the same time increase safety and efficiency. At the booth of Robot Makers GmbH in tent C, the RowCropPilot will focus on autonomous driving in wine and fruit growing. This means that certain maintenance work can already be carried out today without the intervention of an operator. However, the RowCropPilot is also suitable for implementing predictive guidance for wine-growing tractors. This can significantly reduce the strain on the driver.

INTERVITIS INTERFRUCTA HORTITECHNICA will open its doors next Sunday. The international technology trade fair for producers, processors and marketers of wine, fruit juice and special crops will present the latest trends and innovations in the key areas of cultivation and harvesting technology, filling and packaging technology, processing and process control as well as organisation and marketing on more than 50,000 m². From 04.11. to 06.11. visitors can get an excellent overview of the entire process chain in Halls 4, 6, 8 and 10 at the Stuttgart Exhibition Centre.

Of course Robot Makers GmbH also uses this platform to present the RowCropPilot to a broad specialist audience during the robot demonstration. The RowCropPilot is an autonomy kit, which can be used on different vehicles. It enables the (partially) autonomous performance of recurring maintenance tasks in the field of viticulture and fruit growing as well as in tree nurseries. In addition to the robot demonstration, we will also be represented with a small booth at the fair to discuss further optimization potentials for the system in direct contact with the users.

As part of this year’s SICK Global Mobile Automation Meeting 2018, we presented our high-performance control technology and our strengths in environment recognition using the RowCropPilot autonomy kit as an example. The event took place between 26 September and 28 September in Freiburg (Breisgau). The RowCropPilot is an innovative control system for the automation of recurring maintenance tasks in special crops such as viticulture, fruit growing or tree nurseries. The control system was presented in a real application scenario in viticulture. The basic vehicle used was an electrically driven tracked vehicle of type Aebi EC130, that was able to carry out the mulching work in the vineyard independently by retrofitting the RowCropPilot.

Group photo RobotMakers – Mobile Automation Meeting 2018 (Source: SICK AG)

Already on 15 September we presented our RowCropPilot at the 25thfamers market in Bad Kreuznach. In addition to the more than 100 booths of regional exhibitors on the grounds of the Service Centre Rural Area Rheinhessen-Nahe-Hunsrück, the anniversary year 2018 also focused on the viticulture of the future. In the context of this technical show, our autonomy kit RowCropPilot was shown in action that (partially) autonomous working in vineyards is possible.

The control system RowCropPilot in use on an electronically driven mulcher from the company Aebi.

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Tomorrow, Wednesday, July 18, 2018, we will be represented by our RowCropPilot at the Blankenhornsberg machine demonstration at the Freiburg State Winery. Under the motto “Devices with automation, steering aid, digital control, sensor technology, drones and robots for viticulture” all kinds of interesting innovations will be presented there from 1:30 pm. We will present our RowCropPilot autonomy kit on an electronic mowing robot from Aebi. Further information and the agenda can be found on the website of the State Institute of Viticulture Freiburg.

The Commercial Vehicle Technology Symposium was held for the fifth time last week at the Technical University in Kaiserslautern. More than 200 participants discussed innovations and trends in the field of commercial vehicle technology. In addition to an interesting and exciting lecture programme, which was divided into the main topics “Assisted and automated driving and working”, “Energy and resource efficiency”, “Safety, reliability and service life”, “Simulation methods” and “Innovative methods for development and production”, a exhibition was held in the foyer of building 42 and many different types of commercial vehicles were shown outdoors.

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The fifth Commercial Vehicle Technology Symposium will take place at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern from Tuesday, March 13 to Thursday, March 15. The event, organised and hosted by the Commercial Vehicle Alliance Kaiserslautern, takes place every two years and deals with international trends and technological developments in the commercial vehicle industry. In more than 50 lectures and an accompanying exhibition, current and future trends in the field of commercial vehicles will be discussed.

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Last week Tuesday, February 27 and Wednesday, February 28, we were present at the Franconian Wine Days in Veitshöchheim with our RowCropPilot.

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Tomorrow, Tuesday 27 February and Wednesday 28 February, we will present our Autonomy kit RowCropPilot at the Franconian Wine Days in Veitshöchheim near Würzburg. The electronic tracked vehicle Mattro Bock is presented as an autonomous carrier vehicle for taking soil samples and can be inspected on the outside area in front of the Mainfranksäle on the Farmfacts booth. The exhibition will be open from 8:30am to 5:00pm on Tuesday and from 8:30am to 2:30pm on Wednesday. In addition to the exhibition, an interesting conference program will be held. On the first day the program is focusing on biodiversity issues between climate change and economics, and on the second day on wine and its origin as a brand. The program is rounded off with a tasting session starting on Wednesday at 2:30pm. More detailed information on the program can be found here.