Our Challenges
Smart Agriculture*1 and Autonomous Agricultural Machinery
From 2014, advancements in information technologies began to bring shape to people’s desires. A desire for an automatic cleaning device, for example, led to the robotic vacuum cleaner. It also became possible for people to fill their bathtubs, adjust their air conditioning, and monitor their home from outside using their smartphone. Automated, unmanned technologies took shape and began to influence the agriculture industry.
Even today, an aging workforce, a shortage of workers, a lack of successors, and other fundamental concerns continue to affect Japanese agriculture. If it was possible to automate agricultural machinery, digitize farmland and production management, or transform cultivation technologies and expertise into data, anyone could work in agriculture, and these concerns could be largely alleviated. Kubota’s smart agriculture seeks to do just this, aiming for precision farming based on the use of data, and ultra labor-saving farming based on the automation of agricultural machinery. In 2014, Kubota announced the Kubota Smart Agri System, or KSAS, a farm management support system central to the use of this data. The system works to transform all aspects of farm management into data, from the management of farmland and production to the management of weather information and daily work routines. With rice farming, for example, KSAS can gauge the location of delicious rice within the rice paddy, even analyzing the rice’s protein and moisture content. This enables a revolutionary method for fertilizer application, adding significant value to the harvested rice. In visualizing—that is, presenting it as data—elements of rice farming that previously relied on the techniques and intuition of experienced farmers, even inexperienced farmers can undertake efficient farm management and production, and harvest high-quality agricultural produce.
Kubota also hurried to automate its agricultural machinery. In 2016, the company developed a GPS-based straight-line keeper and auto-steering function, applying this technology to a rice transplanter, tractor, and other machinery. Even for veteran farmers, keeping machinery in a straight line on farm fields was a difficult job and one that required thorough focus. This new function drastically reduced farmers’ workload, allowing them to carry out this work with their hands off the steering wheel. Further, as the technology allowed the work to be undertaken by almost anyone, securing personnel for the job was made much easier. Meanwhile, as the technology was accurate to within a few centimeters, it enabled precision work that exceeded manual control. This eliminated wasteful use of fuel and fertilizer, which helped to save energy, protect the environment, and lower overall costs. In 2017, Kubota released the Agri Robo Tractor, which was closer than ever before to the perfect machine. The Agri Robo Tractor was capable of autonomous, unmanned operation under the observation of an operator. Kubota would go on to develop WATARAS,*2 a water management system, an agricultural-use drone, and other automated solutions. All of these technologies were linked to KSAS, creating an integrated system of autonomous agricultural machinery. Kubota is making steady progress in transforming agriculture into an appealing, profitable industry.
- *1A new form of agriculture that uses robotics, information and communication technologies, and others to enable ultra labor-saving farming and high-quality production.
- *2Water for Agriculture Remote Actuated System: A system that enables the monitoring and remote or automated control of rice field water supply and drainage via a smartphone or computer.
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