Mizzou becomes only college in the country with autonomous electric tractor for research
Imagine a farmer hopping off his or her tractor and opening a gate as the tractor proceeds through the gate on its own.
Kent Shannon presented the scenario on Tuesday. The University of Missouri assistant teaching professor in agriculture systems technology was seated on a Monarch MK-V Tractor he had just operated.
The tractor is fully electric and can be programmed to operate autonomously, without an operator.
Shannon didn't demonstrate the autonomous feature, at the company's direction.
"We only got this tractor on Friday," Shannon said. "We aren't fully trained yet. We're getting there. We will get there."
MU paid $65,000 for the tractor from a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That was a discount, with a market price of $90,000, said Jianfeng Zhou, a professor in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. It's the only one in the Midwest and the only one owned by a university.
In CAFNR's 2019 Drive to Distinction strategic plan, the college identified several grand ideas, said CAFNR Dean Christopher Daubert.
"The digital age of farming is among those big ideas," Daubert said.
Daubert and others said an autonomous tractor is useful to farmers with limited mobility through age or other causes. It can allow some farmers to continue to farm past their normal working lives.
"Some of our smaller farmers are disabled," Shannon said. "They can continue working."
At MU, the tractor will be used for research and teaching by students in CAFNR and the College of Engineering.
There are cameras in the roof of the tractor connected to a supercomputer in the tractor's roof, Zhou said.
"The cameras will make sure it drives safely," Zhou said.
It can be programmed using a screen on the tractor or with a smartphone, he said.
It also collects data as it operates, he said.
"I don't know how much more cutting edge we can be," said Shannon.
The tractor can operate any hour of the day or night, though is limited by the six-hour battery life, he said.
One of the students who said he will benefit from the tractor is Sazzad Rifat, a doctoral student in biological engineering. His purpose will be to use it in mapping fields, he said.
It will be much easier and faster than using drones, Rifat said.
"With the mapping, we can easily upload the data to a computer," he said.
The tractors can be operated in a fleet, talking with one another, Zhou said.
The tractor could be useful on a small cattle operation, Shannon said. He said he doesn't see it replacing farmers, but aiding them.
Zhou said he agreed and that they can also be useful on large farms.
"You're providing a labor force that's more efficient," Zhou said.
Because it's fully electric, it produces no greenhouse gases, he said.
Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on Twitter at @rmckinney9.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Self-driving tractors? University of Missouri is researching benefits
