Patent ID: 10412893

Abstract:
The present invention is related to a method for harvesting crops from a field and to a method for working a field by towing an apparatus such as a tilling apparatus, wherein the methods of the invention employ manned and unmanned vehicles. The operation and movement of the unmanned vehicles is controlled by the drivers of the manned vehicles which are continuously in the vicinity of the unmanned vehicles. The harvesting method involves at least the driver of a harvesting vehicle such as a combine harvester and the driver of a crop collecting vehicle such as a truck, wherein the drivers control the operation of one or more unmanned crop carts, operated to receive harvested crops from the harvesting vehicle during a harvesting phase and deliver harvested crop to the crop collecting vehicle during a subsequent delivery phase The control effected by the driver of the harvesting vehicle and the driver of the collecting vehicle is such that each driver is capable of visually inspecting the crop cart's operation during the totality of the harvesting and delivery phases respectively. The invention is equally related to a method for working an agricultural field wherein an agricultural apparatus, such as a tillage apparatus, is towed through the field, by one or more unmanned vehicles, while the operation of the unmanned vehicles is controlled by the operator of a manned vehicle that is moving along with the unmanned vehicles through the field.