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Afara Agricultural Technologies Inc. has developed AFARA-COTTON, an autonomous cellular robotic designed to gather cotton spilled on the bottom after the mechanical harvesting course of. The Turkish firm has additionally developed automation for seeding, irrigation, disinfestation, and weeding.
According to Afara, 5% to twenty% of annual cotton yields are unpicked by mechanical harvesters or are dropped to the bottom throughout harvest. This beneficial useful resource is at present both wasted or should be gathered by hand, it stated.
The firm stated AFARA-COTTON is an all-electric, self-driving platform to deal with this waste. It is at present promoting its techniques solely in Turkey and choose European nations.
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AFARA-COTTON cleans two rows without delay
Computer engineer Ömer Muratlı, the son of a farmer, invented the Afara Agricultural Robot in 2019. His household, which harvested cotton, had requested him to construct a robotic to gather remaining cotton. He patented the agricultural platform and introduced it to the working prototype stage.
Afara Agricultural Technologies was established in 2023 with funding from the crowdfunding platform Fonlabüyüsün. The firm is continuous work on a mass-production mannequin.
The video animation above reveals that the robotic has 4 cameras, two lidar sensors, and ultrasonic sensors. Cameras scan the bottom on the lookout for the stray seed cotton.
An AI-based notion mannequin identifies the seed cotton and deploys a suction cup to hoover up the seed cotton and accumulate it in a central bailing space in the midst of the machine. The startup stated it’s focusing on a 90% effectivity charge.
AFARA-COTTON autonomously traverses the sphere, avoiding obstacles because it cleans up two rows at a time. Currently, because the robotic completes a row, the operator must manually realign it onto the subsequent row and reinitiate the gathering course of.
The robotic can accumulate as much as 200 kg (440 lb.) earlier than it must be emptied. While accumulating the cotton, the picker drives as much as 3.2 kph (2 mph), and it may function for as much as six hours on a single cost. The present two-row mannequin will probably be obtainable for €120,000 to €130,000 ($131,275 to $142,231 U.S.).
AFARA-COTTON is designed to wash up cotton wastage from the sphere after the harvest. | Credit: AFARA