Where autonomy propels iron

By Douglas J. Guth

Autonomous farming is here to stay for growers seeking to maximize every yielded crop and labor resource. Raven Industries is now guiding customers on a technology-infused journey that includes the industry’s first autonomous spreader.

Introduced in August at Farm Progress Show 2022, the Case IH Trident 5550 applicator with Raven Autonomy combines the company’s driverless technology with an agronomically designed spreading platform. While the first-to-market innovation derives from Case IH autonomous vehicle research, the technology stack is created by Raven.

Software developed by Raven – a South Dakota agtech manufacturer – centers on perception, guidance and steering, and path planning. These critical features comprise a larger Raven mantra of simplifying farming processes to gain significant efficiency.

Ben Voss, Raven’s director of sales for North America and Australia, says integrated solutions as characterized by the autonomous spreader are needed to compete in a fast-moving industry.

“We already have steering capabilities with the RS1™ and Viper® 4,” says Voss. “Bringing that together with remote connectivity, you’re able to do everything you could if you were in the cab.”

With Raven Autonomy, drivers can complete an entire field operation based on mapped boundaries they plug into a mobile device. Raven’s perception system allows for precise path planning, courtesy of radar sensors and a set of cameras that survey a 360-degree environment around the machine. In practice, an AI-powered perception controller from Raven interprets imagery into objects that a user should avoid.

By integrating this technology into the driverless tech, farmers can have multiple machines in the field at the same time. Users are given full control both inside and outside the cab, as the autonomous applicator provides spreading consistency with sub-inch accuracy.

“With two Tridents on hand, I was able to run one like a normal machine, then with the other I mapped the field,” says Matthew Boomsma, an agronomy logistics support specialist with Agtegra, a full-service agricultural cooperative based in South Dakota. “My production level doubled during that period. Being able to double that efficiency was a huge success for us.”

Gaining efficiency, one crop at a time

Agtegra is no stranger to Raven’s driverless technology, as it previously used the company’s OMNiPOWER autonomous power platform. This cabless innovation offers a computer-guided control apparatus that links to equipment, delivering wide field coverage and high-efficiency allocation of human resources.

Leveling up its autonomous solutions to the Raven Autonomy solution is Agtegra’s latest stop on what Raven dubs their “path to autonomy.” Growers along this path implement technology that automates and simplifies their operations.

Ideally, participants will transition from independent, machine-level automation to seamless coordination around large-scale field tasks. Eventually, an enterprise like Agtegra can have a driverless machine that executes missions with no in-field operator or supervision required.

Although Agtegra is not quite at this point, Boomsma says such technology is critical for an industry confronting a tight labor market. The company tested the driverless tech in spring, aiming to work smarter in tight time frames while being assured that the autonomy-driven machine performed a reliable job each time out.

Thanks to Raven’s high-tech functionality, a driver can operate another machine directly beside the autonomous spreader. Having multiple machines in the field at once compensates for staffing issues and ensures accuracy without the variable of human error. As the driverless tech moves faster than similar equipment, Agtegra customers averaged 90 to 100 acres an hour in their crop production cycles.

Speed would not mean much without precision, but Raven’s Autonomy solution has that covered as well, says Boomsma.

“When this machine comes out of the headland, it’s always in the same pattern each time,” Boomsma says. “The Trident does everything consistently, so that’s going to gain efficiency for us.”

No limits ahead

Through its path to autonomy, Raven encourages farmers to thoughtfully adopt increasing levels of automation, says Voss, the company’s director of sales. Training is a vital aspect of this equation, as a farm begins to implement autonomy, the Raven team provides a deep dive into software and fundamentals in equipment operation.

“People should understand our workflow, logistics and machine automation,” says Voss. “Autonomous capability is another level up for customers with advanced knowledge of Raven products. For someone at ground zero, they probably need to graduate through various levels of automation, then they will be ready for this.”

The Raven platform lets growers of all sizes review their inefficiencies. Looking ahead, the Raven-assisted Trident applicator will be available in the North American market in 2023.

Voss sees no limit in the ways automation can upgrade core farm equipment, including the traditional spreader.

“There is so much demand now – this is what the world wants,” Voss says. “We have people asking us when they can have access to autonomy for their combines. Hold onto your seatbelts, because we’ll be pushing this technology out into a variety of scenarios moving forward.”

Boomsma, the Agtegra rep, is similarly excited to witness the next iteration of Raven automation. Self-propelled balers and soil-sampling machines are just two scenarios he is dreaming about.

“The things that our grandparents we’re talking about are here now,” says Boomsma. “I can’t wait to see what Raven will come up with next.”