By John Rogers
Autonomous Solutions Inc. (ASI), a developer of unmanned vehicle systems, software and components based in the tiny Cache County town of Mendon, has made a big splash in two industries with the deployment of its technology. ASI-driven vehicles are being tested in California agriculture fields and sod farms in Utah.
ASI technology will be used in two pilot programs with large scale commercial growers in California. A partnership agreement has been announced between ASI, New Holland Agriculture and E. & J. Gallo Winery, the largest family-owned winery in the world, to operate the autonomous vehicles in their vineyard operations. Similarly, there has also been a partnership announced between ASI, Case IH and Campbell Soup Co.’s Bolthouse Farms, one of North America’s largest vegetable growers.
ASI has also partnered with FireFly Automatix of North Salt Lake to disrupt the turf farming industry with its M220 Self-Propelled Turf Mower.
ASI was founded in Mendon in 2000 and employs about 170 people — half of which are engineers — in its 100-acre development lab and proving ground in Cache County.
The primary purpose of these pilot programs is to collect more data and feedback from the best farm operators, ASI said in a recent release.
“We are delighted to work with these world-class organizations at this exciting time,” said Mel Torrie, CEO of ASI. “The technology maturity and lower costs are converging towards an automation disruption just in time to help with the severe shortage of farm labor.”
The Gallo winery will be using New Holland T4.110F vineyard tractors in its operations in California that are fitted with autonomous technology. The systems will be performing a full range of maintenance and crop production tasks. These tasks are highly repetitive and are done many times throughout the year, making it an ideal application for automation, ASI said.
ASI and Case IH are also working with Bolthouse Farms. This pilot program, also based in California, will be using multiple autonomous Case IH Steiger Quadtrac tractors for crop tillage.
“Feedback from these operations is key for us to further refine the solution for specific implements and production scenarios,” said Bret Turpin, agriculture project manager for ASI.
“FireFly is pioneering a dramatic shift in turf farming,” said David Clyde, ASI director of new market development. “Not only are their machines designed to be the most efficient in the market, but with the help of ASI’s advanced driverless vehicle solutions applied to the new M220 mower, they are positioned to successfully deliver an entirely new level of value and service to their customers.”
The sod equipment manufacturer announced its technology partnership with ASI at the Turfgrass Producers International Education Conference and field days in Tucson, Arizona. The event highlighted the M220 mower and included a live demonstration of the vehicle operating autonomously.
“While sod harvesting only happens once a year, it needs to be mowed weekly to keep it healthy,” said FireFly CEO Andrew Limpert. “We’ve expressly designed and built this mower from the engine to the decks for this specific and necessary task, with future versions offering even more autonomy.”
As the autonomous capabilities of the M220 develop, turf farmers will have the ability to create maps of their fields, assign multiple mowers to separate fields and dispatch them to mow — unmanned — all with the click of a mouse or tap on the screen.
ASI’s command and control software, Mobius, instinctively creates the most efficient route for optimal area coverage of every field, ASI said. The software platform communicates with and controls each machine, managing its speed, direction, turning radius, obstacle detection, braking, blade height and more.
“Mobius continues to expand its capabilities as the most advanced, interoperable vehicle automation software in the market,” said Clyde. “We are excited to add industrial turf mowing to that growing list of capabilities.”
The current projects build upon longstanding collaboration between ASI and these global agricultural manufacturers, the company said. Recently commercialized products, which have derived from the research and development activities of the autonomous program, have included the release of Case IH’s AccuTurn and New Holland Agriculture’s IntelliTurn automated end-of-row turning products.
North Salt Lake’s FireFly Automatix Inc. was founded in 2010 and was named Utah’s fastest-growing company in 2016 and 2017 by MountainWest Capital Network. The company employs about 50 in its headquarters office.