Aurotron Pty Ltd

Description

Aurotron International is a privately owned Australian company. In partnership with the UNSW, Australia, Aurotron designs and manufactures integrated autonomous steering and control systems for off-the-shelf tractors, called Autonomous Agriculture Machines (AAMs).

AAMs, are driverless tractors and other types of machinery that perform specific or a multitude of operations on a farm. Aurotron in partnership with UNSW, Australia, is releasing its first AAM model for weed spot spraying in April 2015. Planter/seeder models will follow from mid 2015.

The machines are programmed to drive a specific path across the fields whilst autonomously conducting the intended job, eg. spraying and planting. The farmer remotely monitors the operation of the machine whilst the machine itself continuously assesses its status and health. If the machine encounters any issues it will alert the farmer and automatically stop operations.

AAMs provide many benefits such as reduced labour input, lower machinery and maintenance costs and in spraying applications a reduction in chemical input. This productivity gain through cost decreases leads to increased farm profitability. The example at the end of the article demonstrates the staggering cost savings that AAMs can achieve, in the case of a 5,000 hectare farm in excess of A$150,000 in capital investment costs and on-going annual cost savings in excess of A$400,000.

AAMs provide a first step from mechanisation to automation in agriculture – a paradigm shift that led to massive productivity gains in other industries, namely manufacturing in the 20th century.

Specialties

Locations

Addresses

• AU.; Bendigo, VICPrimary

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