Development of a robotic agricultural machine for broadcast sowing of crop seeds

BACKGROUND: This paper considers the issue of designing a robotic agricultural machine for broadcast sowing seeds of agricultural crops, the scope of which includes various agricultural companies, agricultural industry, as well as small farms engaged in sowing grain crops. Existing sowing machines have a common disadvantage, which is that the moist soil adheres to the surface of the working bodies, in particular the two-disc shares of these machines, causing changing the shape of the groove and forming a pre-sowing hill, which violate the requirements for sowing. These factors worsen the quality of the work performed, an increase in traction resistance is observed, which leads to an increase in fuel costs..

AIM: Development of a robotic agricultural machine equipped with a disk spreader, which is capable of operating in automatic mode with minimal human participation..

METHODS: The design was carried out using the KOMPAS-3D V19 three–dimensional CAD software. Existing approaches in the design and engineering of industrial robots were used. An exploratory study method was used, including an analysis of known disk spreaders.

RESULTS: The paper presents the design and operating principle of a robotic agricultural machine, including a description of the frame where the control unit, a seed tank, a seed line with a flap, a belt drive, drives, a chain coverer, a disc spreader and a furrowing roller are mounted. The design of a disc spreader with concave guides, ensuring an even distribution of seeds over the surface of the field, is proposed.

CONCLUSION: The proposed design will ensure complete robotization of broadcast sowing of grain crops, so that the technological operation — sowing will be performed with minimal human participation, which in turn eliminates various human factors when performing the work. In addition, the cost of paying the staff of employees is reduced.