Robots for Vineyard Management

Key Takeaways:

• Vitirover robot offers a sustainable and efficient solution for vineyard management, using electric motors to perform tasks autonomously.
• The robot is equipped with sensors and cameras to navigate vineyards while minimizing soil compaction and vine damage.
• Maxon electric motors, including brushed DCX 22 L drives and a GP 32 C gearhead, provide powerful and efficient performance for the robot’s tasks.

As vineyards continue to look for ways to increase sustainability and efficiency, the Vitirover robot is emerging as a game-changing solution. This innovative agricultural robot uses maxon electric motors to perform a range of tasks, from mowing and weeding to spraying and monitoring. This article will explore the Vitirover robot, its benefits, and how its motor system works.

Why the Vitirover Robot?

The Vitirover robot was developed to help vineyards operate more sustainably and efficiently. Traditional vineyard management methods often rely on manual labour or heavy machinery, both of which can be expensive and damaging to the environment. The Vitirover robot offers a more sustainable alternative by using electric motors to perform its tasks, which reduces the need for fossil fuel-powered machinery and the associated pollution.

What Makes the Vitirover Useful?

The Vitirover robot is a highly useful tool for vineyard management. It is designed to operate autonomously and can perform a range of tasks, including mowing, weeding, and spraying. The robot is equipped with sensors and cameras that allow it to navigate through the vineyard while avoiding obstacles and accurately targeting weeds or pests. Its lightweight design helps to reduce soil compaction and minimize damage to the vines. The Vitirover is powered by solar panels and can operate for up to ten hours on a single charge. The robot is designed to be easy to operate and requires minimal maintenance.

Read more about how maxon motors helped Solve a Problem with Crop Cultivators

How Does the Vitirover Robot Work?

The Vitirover robot is driven by four brushed DC motors, one per wheel. These brushed maxon DCX 22 L drives are highly efficient, which is important in battery operation, and offer maximum power density in a very small installation space. Combined with a maxon GP 32 C gearhead, this solution enables the mower to absorb the load on the wheels and deliver the torque required for traction. This motor system provides efficient and powerful performance that enables the Vitirover robot to navigate through vineyards and perform its tasks with precision and agility.

The greatest challenge however was elsewhere, namely the three blades that are driven by DCX 32 L series DC motors. The high load tended to damage the ball bearings of the motors, which led to failures. The engineers at maxon finally developed an aluminium bell housing for sustainable protection. Kevin Schwartz, in charge of the Vitirover project at MDP: “Our role is not limited to delivering electric motors. Instead, we supply complete solutions that fulfil the needs of the customer.”

Speak to our team from DNH to see how we can assist you with your project. We work closely with maxon to fulfil the needs of our customers.