Recipient Organization
PLAINS TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
9401 COLBY ST
LINCOLN,NE 68505
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Use of cover crops has tremendous value in improving soil health, which ultimately impacts nutrient cycling, erosion, and water holding capacity. Cover crops have proven to reduce water pollution risks, remove harmful greenhouse gasses (such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen), and increase crop yields. However, adoption of cover crop utilization is largely challenged by timing of planting and labor resource availability. The US Midwest only plants cover crops on 10% or less of its potential cropland. To address challenges of increased adoption of cover crop usage, Plains Technologies proposes to build on the team's prior research and develop an autonomous robotic cover crop seed drill for seeding after harvest: the Flex-Ro Cover Crop Drill. Phase 1 STTR objectives include 1) Design, fabricate, and integrate a seed drill attachment for Flex-Ro Robot; 2) Develop control system software for integrating CC drill into the control architecture of Flex-Ro Robot; and 3) Test the performance of the robotic CC drill in no-till field conditions at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln's (UNL) research fields. The team will work with UNL both for the field trials and prototype development, largely focusing on system software. Once proven feasible, we anticipate employing a Farming as a Service business model to increase adoption of cover crop use in the US.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
40%
Developmental
60%
Goals / Objectives
Goal: Develop an Autonomous Robotic cover crop (CC) seed drill in bare soil after harvest in coordination with a manned combine harvester (leader-follower system).Specific Technical Objectives to reach this goal are toDesign, fabricate, and integrate a CC drill attachment for Flex-Ro RobotDevelop control system software for integrating CC drill into the control architecture of Flex-Ro RobotTest the performance of the robotic CC drill in no-till field conditions at UNL's research fields (Rogers Memorial Farm - RMF and Eastern Nebraska Research Extension and Education Center - ENREEC)
Project Methods
The first half of the project phase will focus on designing and developing the Flex-Ro CC drill sub-systems. Preliminary testing of the Flex-Ro CC drill will be completed at the Rogers's Memorial Farm (RMF), located approximately 10 miles east of the Department of Biological Systems Engineering (PD's department). The RMF is a no-till research farm, which is approximately 300 acres in size.Field production system level evaluation of the Flex-Ro CC drill system will be conducted at the second field location, Eastern Nebraska Research Extension and Education Center (ENREEC) in Mead, Nebraska , with approximately 2,500 acres of crop under production. Flex-Ro will be used to robotically drill CCs suitable for eastern Nebraska (e.g., clover, cereal rye, barley). The target drilling depth is approximately 2.5 cm (1 in.) below the ground. The Flex-Ro can move forward and backward with equal ease, so CC seeding can be done by simply reversing the direction of the drive motors to move the vehicle through the crop during inter-seeding. The efficacy of the mission planner in traversing the crop rows and the preciseness of drilling the seeds at 1 in. depth will be evaluated. The Flex-Ro robot's four-wheel steering will also be tested with the intent of evaluating the improvement in timeliness of drilling the CC in conventional headland turns, which is typically a two-wheel Ackermann steering (figure 6 (left)) versus right angle turns using four-wheel steering (figure 6 (right)) in the opposite direction without having to turn around at the end of the crop rows. The improvement in field efficiency in crab-steering mode will also be evaluated. The response characteristics of the CC seeder control system will also be evaluated. During the project's second phase, the Flex-Ro CC seed drill in leader-follower configuration with a combine harvester will be tested at the ENREEC research fields. The fields in ENREEC are production size and offer opportunity to test the robotic drilling of CC seed. The absolute coordination strategy, exchange of information between the combine and the Flex-Ro CC seed drill, and the ability to drill the seed through the existing residue will be evaluated. Data will be collected to quantify the percentage of seeds in good contact with the soil in randomized field test strips. The behavior of the Flex-Ro robot in the event of loss of communication with the combine harvester will be tested to ensure the Felx-Ro robot is predictable in its behavior.