5 ms·

Can it be addressed by changing the platform of farming vehicles? Hexapod walkers, for example?

by xvilka 4y ago

jacquesm 4y ago
There is a lot of active research in this domain but it is hard to make something that is as reliable, usually the goal with those systems is not to allow for lower soil compaction but to be able to work in places where wheeled vehicles can't.
- VBprogrammer 4y ago
  The obvious solution is automated tractors. The main drive for larger and larger tractors is to maximize the amount of ground covered per time / operator. If the tractors can work tirelessly day and night that is somewhat mitigated. The actual driving part is obviously much more trivial than autonomous driving on roads. However there are a lot of hard to automate adjustments and maintenance items going on with many tractor implements.
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    Big tractors are also more fuel efficient, which is a bit counterintuitive.
    - salawat 4y ago
      Not really. The larger you make a powerplant, the more thermodynamically efficient it can get. This is why things like trains and supertankers make sense where they are available.
  - omegabravo 4y ago
    As I understand it (and I don't understand it, I'm not source of authority here) the tractors don't need to work day and night, they need to work during the important planting and harvesting seasons. That happens to be the same time that your neighbour wants to do it. Efficiency is key here so that one harvester can work several farms 24/7, for a limited period of time. As you outlined, uptime is critical during these periods. I spent a lot of my time in remote locations, and reliability trumps everything. The cost of a hotshot is significant - however I was far more remote than the farms where. Paying a person to drive the tractor doesn't seem like it's the large cost. It's the machinery you need 1x per year, at the same time everyone else does.
imtringued 4y ago
This is a new approach: https://youtu.be/TD9EjVL7Lx4 https://youtu.be/TD9EjVL7Lx4
- cseleborg 4y ago
  Not in agriculture, so I don't really know what I'm talking about, but... Isn't that pretty much everything that's wrong with our agriculture today? Isn't large-scale monoculture, which this system obviously aims to support, a part of the environmental problems we're facing? The original article points to the unsustainable course of the current trend, so while the caterpillar system and the ability to roll on less land solves the immediate problem described, it fails once you look at the bigger picture, I think.
  - riskable 4y ago
    There's no reason why a giant machine can't manage multiple different crops/plants at once. The problem in industrial agriculture isn't the geometric layout of straight rows/columns... It's the monoculture (and fertilizer/pesticide usage and soil compaction and plastic pollution!). It would be interesting to see a farm get a new voronoi-style layout each growing season.
cdot2 4y ago
I don't see that a more complex vehicle would have a significant affect. All that matters is the weight/surface area contact with the ground. You can achieve that by using tracks or just bigger and more tires.
rocqua 4y ago
Given that the problem is effectively 'total force over the entire footprint of the vehicle', you would need a platform that doesn't press down on the ground. I guess helicopers would work. Maybe a hovercraft too, but I suspect a hovercraft effectively transfers all the force into the ground anyway.

Can it be addressed by changing the platform of farming vehicles? Hexapod walkers, for example?

by xvilka 4y ago

Can it be addressed by changing the platform of farming vehicles? Hexapod walkers, for example?

There is a lot of active research in this domain but it is hard to make something that is as reliable, usually the goal with those systems is not to allow for lower soil compaction but to be able to work in places where wheeled vehicles can't.

VBprogrammer 4y ago
The obvious solution is automated tractors. The main drive for larger and larger tractors is to maximize the amount of ground covered per time / operator. If the tractors can work tirelessly day and night that is somewhat mitigated. The actual driving part is obviously much more trivial than autonomous driving on roads. However there are a lot of hard to automate adjustments and maintenance items going on with many tractor implements.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  Big tractors are also more fuel efficient, which is a bit counterintuitive.
  - salawat 4y ago
    Not really. The larger you make a powerplant, the more thermodynamically efficient it can get. This is why things like trains and supertankers make sense where they are available.
- omegabravo 4y ago
  As I understand it (and I don't understand it, I'm not source of authority here) the tractors don't need to work day and night, they need to work during the important planting and harvesting seasons. That happens to be the same time that your neighbour wants to do it. Efficiency is key here so that one harvester can work several farms 24/7, for a limited period of time. As you outlined, uptime is critical during these periods. I spent a lot of my time in remote locations, and reliability trumps everything. The cost of a hotshot is significant - however I was far more remote than the farms where. Paying a person to drive the tractor doesn't seem like it's the large cost. It's the machinery you need 1x per year, at the same time everyone else does.

imtringued 4y ago

This is a new approach: https://youtu.be/TD9EjVL7Lx4 https://youtu.be/TD9EjVL7Lx4

cseleborg 4y ago
Not in agriculture, so I don't really know what I'm talking about, but... Isn't that pretty much everything that's wrong with our agriculture today? Isn't large-scale monoculture, which this system obviously aims to support, a part of the environmental problems we're facing? The original article points to the unsustainable course of the current trend, so while the caterpillar system and the ability to roll on less land solves the immediate problem described, it fails once you look at the bigger picture, I think.
- riskable 4y ago
  There's no reason why a giant machine can't manage multiple different crops/plants at once. The problem in industrial agriculture isn't the geometric layout of straight rows/columns... It's the monoculture (and fertilizer/pesticide usage and soil compaction and plastic pollution!). It would be interesting to see a farm get a new voronoi-style layout each growing season.

cdot2 4y ago

I don't see that a more complex vehicle would have a significant affect. All that matters is the weight/surface area contact with the ground. You can achieve that by using tracks or just bigger and more tires.

rocqua 4y ago

Given that the problem is effectively 'total force over the entire footprint of the vehicle', you would need a platform that doesn't press down on the ground. I guess helicopers would work. Maybe a hovercraft too, but I suspect a hovercraft effectively transfers all the force into the ground anyway.