The Robot AwardFirst Place(Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Industry, Food Industry Category)Retrofit type automation system
for agricultural equipment
Topcon Corporation

Turn your tractor into an
automated tractor
Automatic steering system■Challenges facing Japan’s agriculture industry

Due to the extreme aging of the farming workforce in Japan, an
increasing number of farmers are outsourcing the management of
their fields to other farmers in the region. In order to handle themanagement of this increased area, they are incorporating, hiring
workers, and treating it like a large-scale farming operation.
However, it’s not easy to manage a large field while dealing with anunskilled labor force at the same time. In particular, the operation ofagricultural vehicles requires a lot of skill, as it is difficult to keep thevehicle moving in a straight line, and the driver needs to also
operate the machinery hooked to the back (fertilizer, pesticidesprayers, etc.) In particular, ridging, sowing, and other operations
require skilled driving with an accuracy of several centimeters.

■An automatic steering system that can be retrofitted

The automatic steering system uses a high-precision GPS receiverthat registers position information, which is then used toautomatically control the steering wheel of the agricultural vehicle tohave it follow a pre-registered line of travel. The system iscomposed of three devices: 1. High-precision GPS receiver: It
has a built-in electronic compass and IMU (Inertial MeasurementUnit), which measure the location, position, and bearing. 2.
Console: This processes the position and bearing information fromthe GPS receiver and also displays and sets the position andbearing information. It uses the location information to control thefarm equipment. 3. Electronic steering wheel: A high torqueelectronic motor is installed to automatically operate the steering
wheel of the vehicle. These devices can be retrofitted to existingvehicles that are currently in use, enabling automation at a low cost.
Since agriculture vehicles are used for a short time in each season,a single automatic steering system can be passed around todifferent vehicles for efficient operation.

too, letting the system handle the steering wheel helps reduce
fatigue and also lets them concentrate on checking the work
equipment, allowing them to perform more accurate work. The
system is particularly effective when operating at ultra-low speeds(0.1km/h) which is often the speed used in agriculture in Japan.

■Supporting DX (digital transformation) in agriculture

Automatic steering systems are rapidly gaining popularity in Japan,
but they have already become common in advanced agriculture
countries in Europe and the United States. Agricultural vehicles andwork equipment are highly computerized and automaticallycontrolled in conjunction with the position information of theautomatic steering system. The automatic steering system collects
data and sends it to the cloud and is managed by a system called
FMIS (Farm Management Information System).
Meanwhile, in Japan today, automatic steering systems are onlyused to control the steering wheel and the recorded work data is
not utilized. As Japan’s work equipment becomes more electronic,
it will be possible to obtain useful information. As agriculturemachines become information devices, Japan will be able to utilize
agricultural work data as is done in Europe and the United States.
This will contribute to the transition from agriculture that relies on
experience and intuition to one that is based on data.
Agriculture machines become information machines
Data is gathered in the cloud and utilized
Sensor Information
Growth, yield,
weather, etc.

Console Information■Making difficult work easier for unskilled workers

With the automatic steering system, even unskilled workers canperform highly accurate and efficient work similar to skilled workers.
By delegating difficult tasks to unskilled workers, one of theobstacles to scale expansion can be resolved. For skilled operators

Worker, field,
materials, area, etc.
Tractor Information
Vehicle speed, engine rev count,mileage, PTO rev count, error information, etc.

Contact:Topcon Positioning Asia

75-1 Hasunuma-cho, Itabashi Ward, Tokyo
Tsuyoshi Yoshida. IT Agriculture Solutions Department
Tel: 03-3558-2511 E-mail tyoshida@topcon.com
THE 9TH ROBOT AWARD

12GNSS Information

Location, time,
acceleration, etc.

Work Device Information

On/Off, spray volume,
work width, error information,etc.