VKTOR Autonomous Farming Vehicle

Agriculture plays a vital role in the economy and our daily lives, though its negative impacts on the environment and farmers are starting to surface and becoming widely known. This knowledge has brought on various kinds of modern solutions from companies across the world, from the use of robotics and integrated pest management to urban agriculture and vertical farming.

Robotics and automation have become especially common in agriculture as they offer multiple features that can enhance sustainability, raise productivity by maximizing output with minimum effort, and remove the risks that usually come from manual labor, increasing safety in farms and fields.

Industrial designer Alessandro Pennese, in his endeavor to bring more sustainable and productive practices to the agricultural industry, created VKTOR, an environmentally conscious autonomous farming vehicle.

Cycle of Agriculture

With future food supplies undoubtedly relying on agriculture and its demand continuously rising as the world population has already passed 8 billion, the industry has to exert extra effort in crop production. Agriculture has also long been a significant contributor to global warming due to GHG emissions, however.

This vicious cycle of playing the roles of provider and undoer all at the same time is starting to slowly stop, thanks to modern natural and technological solutions that exist and are continuously being developed today. This includes precision agriculture that ensures optimal crop growth, pest control using targeted herbicide applications, and field monitoring for more informed decision-making.

VKTOR takes multifunctionality to the next level, equipped with all these capabilities and more.

Autonomy and Safety

VKTOR is designed for hazardous operations and working conditions that are less than ideal for manual labor and pose a danger as well as health risks to farmers.

Prioritizing safety and efficiency, the vehicle operates on caterpillar tracks instead of wheels for it to roam across various landscapes and terrains, smooth and rough, with better mobility. The tracks also reduce pressure on the ground to avoid any damage and increase grip on contorted surfaces.

Equipped with proximity sensors and a front-mounted Lidar sensor, VKTOR has perception capabilities that allow fully autonomous navigation, easily avoiding any obstacle with zero need for any human intervention.

VKTOR also facilitates harvesting and logistics, transporting machinery and products of different weights and sizes across farms and fields thanks to its modular design, which allows it to operate as is or as two or four coupled modules.

Sustainability and Productivity

In terms of creating more productive agricultural practices, VKTOR can identify and remove weeds without harming crops and plant seeds as well as seedlings with precision and optimal spacing for uniform germination and growth.

With the ability to patrol fields and collect data on crop health, soil conditions, and pest pressure, as well, VKTOR would be able to provide insights on what resources are needed, when, and how much. These features can lead to an optimal and maximized amount of crops being produced with minimum effort and less wasted resources.

Leveling up in sustainability, Pennese built VKTOR using environmentally friendly methods, which includes Sheet Moulding Compound (SMC) technology, a form of tech that uses glass fibers to create a thermosetting sheet material. VKTOR runs on a 1200 mm in-length battery pack with a 12 kW/h capacity that allows the vehicle to operate seamlessly without frequent recharging, reducing any waste of excess power.

With forms of innovative robotic and automated technologies like VKTOR now getting into the mix of agricultural practices, the potential for a bright and sustainable future in the agriculture industry has certainly never been greater.

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