Innvative Basic Robotechnical Mechanism for Implementation of Precisional Agriculture
Authors: Tchenyshev N I , Sysoev O E , Kiselev E P 
Published: March 2020

In agriculture, the soil acts as a physical and biological environment that provides cultivated plants with life factors (water-air, food regimes, etc.), at the same time, the soil becomes the bearing surface for tillage agricultural machines. The increase in the productivity of agricultural energy causes the growth of their mass and the pressure on the soil of the running systems. Thus, in recent years, the mass of tractors per unit area of arable land has increased 3 times.

Modern machine-tractor units are when growing crops passed through the field 5-15 times, which leads to the compaction of arable and subsurface of soil layers. In General, the running systems of machines are cover up to 80% of the field area, and on row crops (potatoes, sugar beet, etc.). The fields are exposed to 3-5 times the impact of units. The total area of their traces in the performance of the whole complex of field work is 100-200% of the field area. [1]

For most soils, the permissible specific pressure is 0.4-0.5 kg/cm2 and the maximum is 1.0-1.5 kg/cm2. However, energy-saturated wheeled tractors put pressure on the soil up to 3-4 kg/cm2 or more.

Soil compaction worsens its agrophysical properties, suppresses the activity of soil biota, causes poor-quality seeding and reduction of their field germination, reduces the moisture content of plants, as well as accelerates erosion processes.

Ultimately, all this leads to lower yields. In studies Matuzova G. V. and etc. [2] with an increase in the volume weight of the soil from the tractor engines from 1.05 to 1.49 g/cm3, the yield of green mass of Vico-oat mixture decreased from 218.3 to 116 C/ha almost 2 times.

The most important technical measures to reduce the compacting effect of agricultural machines on the soil include: the development of soil conservation systems of tractors (new types of caterpillar and pneumatic engines, elastic – ultra-low pressure tire) and agricultural machinery, non-tractor machines system (bridge, rope farming) and other constructive solutions.

Considered in the bridge system in the form of a self-moving platform is designed to perform in an automated mode a set of technological operations in the cultivation of crops, while providing a slight negative impact on the soil cover. The bridge technical complex is a platform approximately 10 x 30 m made of profiles. In short 10 - meter hollow profiles is moved by using a ratchet mechanism and 30-meter profile, which is equipped with roller bearings rail-beam, providing step-by-step movement of the platform on rigid supports in the form of concrete blocks and placed on gravel-pebble pillows every 10 meters each or gravel-pebble drainage on reclamation systems. An automated technological module is mounted on 30-meter cross beams, which is moving along the long beams in an automated mode, performs the specified operations and according to these operations the platform is moved along the rail beams to the next cells. After reaching the edge of the rail-beams of the platform with the help of hydraulic cylinders, resting on a reinforced concrete beam-supports (or drainage system) is lifted, freeing the rail-beams, which with the help of ratchet mechanisms are moved to the next position. Subsequently, the hydraulic cylinders are supporting the platform in a balanced position to relax, the platform rests on the rail-beams, and the technological operation is repeated.

The bridge platform having a rigid base and an electronically-oriented system for adjusting the position of the technological module ensures the accuracy of the technological operations brought to each specific plant, the location of plant is recorded in the computer memory, as well as the application of the specified program at the level of small areas or individual plants of the norms of life support (moisture, fertilizers, chemical protection means, etc.).

Having a rigid support of movement positively solved the problems of reducing energy consumption for the module operation, moving the platform, reducing dependence on weather conditions, the state of the soil cover and human costs, etc. The bridge system in the proposed version can solves the problems of efficiency, aesthetics and attractiveness of agriculture as a production.