Vermeer Corporation has unveiled its autonomous bale mover concept as part of its efforts to address agricultural labour challenges.
Bale Hawk will travel around the field autonomously via onboard sensors to locate bales, pick them up and move them to a predetermined location.
How does the autonomous bale mover work?
The firm confirmed that this is a concept machine only, and it is currently not available for sale.
“Think of this as your spare farmhand. When you are doing other important work or putting your feet up for a well-earned break, the autonomous bale mover can do the heavy lifting.”
“Smart technology to find every bale you left in the field. Strength to carry up to three bales at once and lightweight, helping to minimise soil compaction.”
“After the operator programmes the machine, the autonomous bale mover uses a suite of sensors to locate bales in the field. Designed to handle four or five wide, round, large bales, the machine uses two loading tracks to lift each bale from the ground gently.”
“After three bales have been picked up, the machine carries them to the designated drop-off station and puts them in rows.”
Vermeer research and development manager, Kent Thompson, said:
“This machine helps save labour time and associated costs by eliminating the manual step of moving bales.”
“The autonomous bale mover senses where it is relative to a bale, allowing it to plan a route to pick up that bale.”
“Today, it can pick up three bales at a time before delivering and unloading them to a predetermined location.”
The company added that “by taking a human pass out of the process and letting the machine do the work, operators can spend more time focused on different projects on their operation, while still getting their crop off the field in a timely fashion”.
Vermeer boasts fifty years of round baling under its belt and provides forage and feeding solutions.
The company strives to tackle big challenges and solutions such as limited labour, desire for automation and preventive maintenance.
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