Hexagon’s Autonomy and Positioning division has launched its first autonomy positioning and sensing kits for the agriculture market and says it has validated the solutions in its new autonomous research and development tractor.
Hexagon has also announced that its HxGN LIVE Global 2021, its digital solutions conference, will go forward as planned as an in-person event at The Venetian in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 15-18. It plans to cap in-person attendees at 1,500, fewer than half its historical attendance, while offering a "virtual event experience that allows for much broader customer participation."
Autonomous kit launch
Through collaboration between Hexagon brands NovAtel and AutonomouStuff, the autonomous positioning and sensing kits were developed as part of Hexagon’s Smart Autonomous Mobility solutions portfolio launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in early 2020.
With decades of expertise in GNSS positioning, autonomy and safety-critical applications, NovAtel and AutonomouStuff created these solutions with agriculture machinery OEMs and robotic machinery manufacturers in mind.
Autonomous tractor features
As a demonstrator vehicle for Smart Autonomous Mobility, the autonomous tractor features object detection and classification, simultaneous relative localization and mapping, absolute positioning through GNSS technology, and localization sensor fusing.
Built to illustrate the viability of new positioning and sensing kits, the tractor incorporates safety-critical learnings with situational and environmental awareness, and manual remote control when needed. This platform validates how these solutions and capabilities accelerate autonomous development, the company says.
Off-road, construction capabilities
The positioning and sensing kits are optimized for autonomous agriculture applications, including products like the SMART7 antenna and autonomous robotic capabilities through the NovAtel OEM7 driver powered by the Robot Operating System. The kits also feature TerraStar GNSS Correction Services, ALIGN heading and relative positioning firmware, and SPAN GNSS+INS technology. Though designed for agriculture, the kits integrate seamlessly into other off-road autonomy applications.
“These positioning and sensing kits provide developers with technology bringing assured positioning to autonomy in agriculture,” explained Michael Martinez, agriculture segment manager at Hexagon | NovAtel. “Robotic-machinery manufacturers or those experienced in autonomy may be unfamiliar with the unique challenges facing agriculture applications. Conversely, those experienced with agriculture may not have the expertise to integrate positioning and sensing products within autonomous solutions. We can help in both cases through these positioning and sensor kits, as demonstrated by our autonomous tractor.”
“We’re excited to use this tractor as a platform to validate the human identification, obstacle detection, and enhanced environmental awareness that our sensing kits add to our assured positioning solutions in agriculture," said John Buszek, VP of products and services at Hexagon | AutonomouStuff.
"The sensing and positioning technologies we’ve integrated on this demonstration platform showcase the Smart Autonomous Mobility portfolio, which enables and accelerates the development of autonomy in agriculture applications from prototyping to production,” Buszek said.
For more than 30 years, NovAtel has delivered GNSS positioning solutions as a trusted provider for agriculture companies. Combined with AutonomouStuff’s decade of expertise in autonomy and sensor fusion, they significantly reduce the barrier of entry into autonomy to accelerate the time to market for autonomous solutions in agriculture, construction, mining, and other off-road applications.
Source: Hexagon
