A lightweight mower for more efficiency in special crops and steep areas

by Amadeo Knüsel

Our hypothesis is that mowing in special crops can be made more efficient, more accurate and cheaper by using lightweight, autonomous and electrical robots. We want to test this hypothesis during this innovation booster program.

In the ideation phase we came up with the idea to maintain soil health with ultralight machinery. We focused on ideas to help prevent soil compression, soil erosion and the overuse of fertilizer and pesticides. In the incubation phase we shortly discussed the use cases with Swiss Food Research, six farmers (2 vegetable farmers, 2 dairy farmers, 1 berry farmer, 1 fruit farmer) and three agricultural experts ( in fruit and wine). The results of the discussion showed that currently the highest market potential lies in machinery enabling the cultivation of special crops like fruit, vegetables, grapes and herbs, which have a high value added in Switzerland. In the next phase we need to discuss the further needs for machinery with farmers in special crops and analyze the existing technology and its weaknesses.

One already discussed use case which we planned to focus on is the mowing between grapevines or fruit trees. Here, grass is disturbing the efficient fruit production due to three reasons:

  • The grass keeps moisture back which promotes the growth of fungal diseases. Hence fungicides are applied more often.
  • The grass takes up the available or added nutrients (fertilizer), hence these nutrients are not available for the fruit production anymore. Alternatively, more fertilizer needs to be applied in order to reach the same yield.
  • The grass promotes the growth of mice populations. The mice eat the fruit tree roots, hence the tree’s nutrients and water uptake are inefficient.

Today the grass is often removed with herbicides like glyphosate which leaves the soil bare. In steep areas soil is then carried away during heavy rainfall (soil erosion). Mowed grass would stabilize the soil.

The difficulties to mow between trees or grapevines (Unterstockbehandlung) are the following:

  • The farmer does not have enough time to mow regularly.
  • The machinery cannot mow directly next to the trunk, moisture still promotes fungal growth next to the trunk.
  • The machinery is not accurate enough and injures the trees.
  • The area is too steep for the mowers (vineyards). It cannot be mowed.
  • The soil is too wet, the machinery cannot drive, but herbicides can be applied by a backpack sprayer.
  • There are irrigation tubes which are destroyed while mowing.

The described use case is one example. Further use cases should be discussed with the farmers. 

Firstly, current agricultural machines are heavy and powerful and thus expensive. They cannot be electrified cheaply because of the big weight. By introducing lightweight machines the cost efficiency can be improved:

  • Less weight enables smaller and cheaper motors and allows using smaller battery packs. This leads to an overall cheaper and more ecological vehicle.
  • Less weight means also less safety concerns in autonomous operation

Secondly, big machinery is restricted to flat and homogeneous large scale areas without any obstacles. Small, light and autonomous farm machines enable the production of ecological and resource efficient food items.

Thirdly, farmers have a heavy workload. Autonomous machinery helps to reduce their workload and also makes the farmer’s job more attractive and future-oriented.

Our potential customers and users are farmers of special crops. We will use our existing network and the network of our scientific partner to present our concept and an existing prototype to potential customers. Like that we want to find out what hinders them to be more efficient in the current setup and gather their feedback on our idea.

Later we would like to reflect concept ideas with chosen exponents of the first phase. If concept ideas require further scientific research we would approach a specialized research institute (e.g. mowing with minimal harm to insects).

 

 

Amadeo Knüsel
MSc Mechanical Engineering ETH Zürich
Has hands-on experience in mechanical engineering and project management. 

Stefan Gisler
MSc Mechanical Engineering ETH Zürich
MAS Software Engineering FH Ost
Has a background in sensor technologies, autonomous solutions and software development.

Helene Renaux
MSc Agricultural Sciences ETH Zürich
Has contact to different farmers, which enables us to find a use case which is useful for the agricultural practise.

Martin Bauer
MSc Microengineering EPFL, scientific associate BFH-HAFL
Has done research in automated non-chemical weed control.

  • Economic: As already described small, lightweight, autonomous and electrical machinery is less expensive to construct. Hence it can be sold cheaper than heavy machinery with comparable functionality.
  • Environment: Our machinery is energy efficient thanks to its low weight and electric drive. If we find the right use cases, we can enable resource efficient farming practices (less soil erosion, less pesticides, less fertilizer, less water) and also biodiverse farming in polycultures. Furthermore, the lightweight mower allows for more dynamic movements and prevents from damaging the cultures.
  • Social: Resource efficient farming practice sustains ecosystem services for future generations. Autonomous machinery reduces the work load for farmers and lowers the injury risk. Also food item prices can be kept constant, if manual work can be reduced.
  • Phase 1: We gather information on the current situation from our potential customers during on-site visits showcasing our current functional prototype. Further research will cover suppliers of existing machinery.
  • Phase 2: Based on the information gathered in phase 1 we work out a promising use case enabled by the low weight of the robot.
  • Phase 3: We work out concept ideas and verify them with chosen exponents from the first phase.

If this project shows a relevant market-potential for the chosen use-case, then we want to apply for an Innosuisse project or find investors to be able to develop the prototype to a sellable product.