Techtour: Horsch Unveils 'Millennium Falcon' of Sprayer Sensors

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Most modern boom sensors look to the terrain immediately ahead to adjust for changes in terrain. Besides mitigating the risk of drift, these systems also offer one less thing for the sprayer operator to have to worry about. Horsch’s new BoomSight offers a slightly different, higher perspective.

BoomSight was unveiled by Horsch at Agritechnica in Germany in November, where it was awarded a silver medal. It works by scanning, from atop the roof of a tractor or sprayer cab, a range of approximately 20 metres to the left and right, and 15 metres to the front. Using the measured data, it then creates a surface model of the terrain, altering the inclination degree of the middle part of the boom as it goes.

The BoomSight laser eye sensor is mounted on the top of the cab, where it gets a bird's-eye-view of the terrain (20m to each side, 15m to the front). Photo via Horsch.
The BoomSight laser eye sensor is mounted on the top of the cab, where it gets a bird’s-eye-view of the terrain. Photo via Horsch.

“If it sees an obstacle which can be overpassed by the boom,” explained Horsch’s Nerijus Zukauskas, “it automatically lifts up the boom and overpasses.”

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Should the system detect an insurmountable object — such as a power pole — the machine will automatically be stopped.

BoomSight will be an option for all Horsch sprayers with BoomControl Pro.

RealAgriculture’s Shaun Haney is joined by Horsch’s Nerijus Zukauskas for this TechTour episode. The duo discuss the intricacies of BoomSight (with video of the innovation in action). Filmed at Agritechnica ’15.

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