SeedMaster sister company to unveil autonomous machine for seeding & field work

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Editor’s note: This article was updated on June 28 with additional information regarding the Dot Technology Corp, the DOT Power Platform and quotes from DOT inventor Norbert Beaujot.

A new sister company to SeedMaster is planning to unveil a major innovation in autonomous agriculture in the next few weeks.

The Emerald Park, Sask. company had a prototype “residue wheel” seeding toolbar on display at the Farm Progress Show in Regina last week. The prototype features spoked wheels evenly spaced between seed openers. As SeedMaster engineer Matt Petruick explains in the video below, the prototype’s spoked wheels are designed to clear heavy residue, allowing the openers to be positioned in a row on a single toolbar.

Seedmaster’s prototype ‘residue wheel’ toolbar on display at the Farm Progress Show in Regina last week.

Many farmers wondered aloud what the plan was for this spoked wheel device.

It turns out its appearance at the Farm Progress Show was a teaser for something bigger from a new company called Dot Technology Corp.

As shown on this recently launched website, the spoked wheel seeding toolbar on display in Regina last week is an attachment for an autonomous machine.

Screenshot from Seedotrun.com (taken on June 21, 2017)

Dot Technology Corp says the DOT Power Platform is a diesel-powered, hydraulically-driven platform designed to carry different implements, including the seeding unit shown in the video on SeeDotRun.com.

The U-shaped platform, developed by SeedMaster, has four hydraulic lift arms to load different implements, including attachments made by other manufacturers. It can be programmed to complete field work autonomously or by remote control.

“As a farmer and an engineer I wanted to design it with efficiency in mind. DOT will be a platform that can accomplish limitless tasks for a farmer, and its abilities will be endless as other implement manufacturers collaborate with us,” says Norbert Beaujot, DOT inventor and SeedMaster founder, in a statement.

“Part of the efficiency comes from using the acres one combine can cover, around 2500, as the baseline for DOT Ready implements to cover. And then farmers can scale from there by adding more DOT units and implements,” he explains.


DOT specs

Transport width: 11 ft. 10 in. (3.61 m)
Transport length: 18 ft. 2 in. (5.53 m)
Height: 11 ft. 2 in. (3.4 m)
Dry weight: 8,500 lbs. (3,855 kg)
Engine specifications:
Cummins QSB4.5 Tier4I
4.5 L Turbo Charged Diesel
163 HP @ 2,500 RPM 466 lb-ft @1,500 RPM
Fuel Capacity: 285 litres

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Dot Technology says it has a list of over 100 possible implements that could be made “DOT Ready” for agricultural, construction, mining and other industries.

As for getting an in-person look at how it works, the DOT seeder is slated to be unveiled publicly in less than a month, with demos planned for the Ag in Motion show at Langham, Sask. July 18-21.

Stay tuned for more coverage of the DOT here on RealAg.

While Petruick doesn’t mention the autonomous machine in this video, he describes the residue wheel toolbar design, how it works and some of its advantages, compared with the traditional, much larger airseeder setup:


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