An Irish-built robot tractor is drawing huge interest at the National Ploughing Championships.
iTarra is based in Roscommon and is displaying its 110kW diesel-electric autonomous tractor on the Clarke Engineering stand.
The company’s name comes from ‘tarracóir’, the Irish word for tractor.
Having previously exhibited his invention at Agritechnica, founder-CEO David Doran explained that there has been a lot of interest in the machine over the three days at the National Ploughing Championships, with contractors especially keen to see how an autonomous tractor may work in their business.
'Opportunity'
“Contractors are really starting to take it seriously as they can see there’s an opportunity. They can drop the tractor in the field and let it work away, while they’re busy elsewhere,” explained Doran.
He thinks that this will be a great option to get this technology onto small farms around the country.
He explained that this tractor “takes twice as long to do the work but causes half the amount of soil compaction” compared to a standard tractor and can run a full 24 hours without stopping.
“It’s more for the slow-moving implements that farmers don’t have the labour for,” Doran explained.
Google partnership
iTarra has now partnered with Google and is incorporating Google’s technology, maps and knowledge in AI, cloud storage and geospatial data into the tractor.
In addition to this, Doran sees applications for this technology in other areas.
Firstly, a retrofit auto-steer kit has been developed and will be available soon to install on any tractor. Doran hopes to put this kit onto a Ferguson 20 tractor.
This kit will provide an accurate GPS and auto-steer system alongside the ability to “talk” to the tractor.
He is also using the same technologies in the construction industry to create a semi-autonomous dumper truck that can be fully controlled from the cab of an excavator.
SHARING OPTIONS