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Importing GPS data to a non-compatible slope mower from DroneDeploy

#1

Hi!

I’m Adam, working with special slope mower on hard terrain like slopes next to highways and industrial parks. I just started to explore drones, but i am really enthusiastic about working and mapping with them.

I was wondering if i could automate my slope mower modelled on precision agriculture(John Deere), and with using the gps and field data most likely from DroneDeploy i could run my vehicle on itself automatically in the surveyed area.

I know the vehicle has to have the computer unit to import and process the data, furthermore to run and controll the vehicle like in agricultural tractors, it is another topic, now let’s say it is given, so it has the proper unit to receive and process the data, but my real question is that how can i export the mentioned data from DroneDeploy to a vehicle that has not any application that would be compatible with DroneDeploy?
Is there any file format that i can export with gps data to use? These step needs a whole new application synchronized with DroneDeploy?

Thank you for your patience and responses in advance!

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#2

I think you are up for a very big challenge.

Almost all Ag GPS do not have fully autonomous mode at this point you still need someone behind the wheel supervising.

AgOpenGps has an experimental robot autonomous mode. But with Ag open you will need to build your own hardware.

I have yet to see a guidance system that can handle steep slopes with ease. 15 degrees can be a challenge. They compensate but slopes dynamically shift the machine in ways the guidance has a hard time recovering from.

This is before the challenge of mapping compatibility.

But if you really want it to happen, hard work and innovation can spark new discoveries.

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#3

In order to understand more completely I don’t know that DroneDeploy would have anything to do with it except for the fact that it is used to fly the drone and process the data that the machine control data is going to be derived from. The DroneDeploy solution is solely based on the DJI SDK so it won’t interface with anything else.

I think what @PotatoFarmer references above is the crux of the challenge. Even in construction our machine control does not “drive” the equipment. It merely controls the hydraulics by which the bucket and blades are manipulated. That said I know what you are trying to do has been done in the past with paving and string-less curb machines, but in a much more simplistic way and also as he also eluded to these are on very flat much less challenging conditions.

There was a thread on here a while back about someone creating an autonomous RC vehicle that i will try to find for reference, but you might be getting into some self-driving car technology before you know it. The easy part about drone autonomy is that they are nearly all digital so when you try to apply this to a fuel-fed machine you start getting into the manipulation of mechanical parts and hydraulics.

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#4
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#5

Thank you, guys for your replies!

I’m only searching for some solution if there is a way, at all.

I am aware more or less it is a hard one, i started with idea of the precision ag, then thought there must be a way to automate other vehicles on this pattern.

So thanks again all of your replies, and if you had more comments on it, it’s welcomed!

1 Like