Look, Ma - No hands

摘要

Ride and drive demonstrations are always popular at farm equipment shows, but those offered by Beeline Navigator, IntegriNautics and Trimble Navigation at the 2000 California Farm Equipment Show in Tulare offered a different experience. Because the tractor was being steered by a guidance system, it was literally the 'Look, Ma no hands" approach to driving. In reality, the operator turns the tractor around at the end of the field and then engages the guidance system to steer the tractor back across the field. Although the three companies use a global positioning system (GPS), they use different approaches to the correction signal and addressing the pitch and yaw of the tractor. Each guidance system is said to have relatively-easy installation, including mounting the GPS antenna or antenna array, setting up the computer control unit and tying into the tractor's electronic or hydrostatic steering system.