USE Network launch I UAV Works VALAQ l Cable harnesses l USVs insight l Xponential 2020 update l MARIN AUV l Suter Industries TOA 288 l Vitirover l AI systems l Vtrus ABI

77 On top of that are the toxic emissions they produce, which are increasingly undesirable in these days of ever-stricter environmental regulations. The third method involves applying glyphosate as an emissions-free weedkiller – the method of choice in around 70% of the world’s 8 million hectares of vineyards. But widespread concern (based on mounting scientific evidence) over its toxicity and potentially carcinogenic effects means it will soon be banned in Europe, with other governments around the world expected to follow suit. Vitirover’s UGV however runs on solar power and batteries, with no emissions at the point of operation, and is designed to a compact size with centimetre-accurate RTK-GNSS navigation to allow nimble movement amid crops, machinery, tracks and other densely packed assets. Furthermore, the company does not sell individual units of the vehicle; instead it sells a service counted by numbers of maintained hectares – saving end-users’ concerns over spare parts, maintenance duties, warranties and so on – and deploys the robots in swarm-like ‘herds’. At the time of writing, such herds were providing grass management for organisations such as France’s national railway operator SNCF, electricity transmission system operator RTE, and several industrial and agricultural users across Europe. Minimalist design Design of the UGV began after Vitirover was founded, in 2011. The company determined that a 75 cm-long, 32 cm- wide and 29 cm-tall robot would be capable of fitting between all standard tresses of vineyard grapes (which run no closer than a metre to each other) and underneath their lowest wires (which hang at least 40 cm above the ground). In the course of designing the vehicle, Vitirover has sought to eliminate non- essential mechanical and electronic parts throughout the chassis wherever possible, to reduce costs and extend the robot’s autonomy (by eliminating weight and potential sources of mechanical breakdown). “If a highly intelligent UGV is constantly suffering mechanical failures, it’s not unmanned – you’d need an attendant at all times to pick up after it,” de la Fouchardiere says. “The ‘realised autonomy’ of any ground vehicle is linked to its weight and how few its points of failure are, so over the different Vitirover prototypes we’ve worked to continue removing parts, interactions and so on.” This has resulted in the current, fifth iteration of the Vitirover UGV: a 20 kg vehicle that consumes around 20 W during normal operations. This means a power-to-weight ratio comparable to the Mars Curiosity rover, the CEO notes, although he adds that Curiosity would cover around 100 m of ground per day, while the Vitirover will cover between 200 and 800 m during each hour of operation. “In mechanical terms it’s really quite a simple vehicle: you have a shell, batteries, motors, sensors for detecting environmental data and impacts, and a solar panel on top,” he says. “The real intelligence of this vehicle lies in the embedded software – its precision navigation and guidance, its autonomous operations and its health monitoring systems.” Installing and preparing the herd Although there has to be some flexibility with meeting the precise needs of each landowner, Vitirover’s herds tend to be organised with a general structure in mind. The exact circumstances (and thus the necessary variations in each herd) are determined after an initial survey visit, in which Vitirover’s staff study the plots for its soil characteristics, density of obstacles, slope and GNSS coordinates. “They subsequently calculate a service price depending on factors such as the ‘chaotic’ nature of the soil, the number of slopes and the density of any obstacles,” de la Fouchardiere says. Also, if the grass and weeds at the site have been allowed to grow to more than a metre tall, the company will oversee an initial manual trim to bring it down to a manageable level – typically below Vitirover UGV | In operation Unmanned Systems Technology | June/July 2020 Each of the UGV’s three cutters is powered by a DCX 32 L series electric motor (with a customised aluminium bell protective housing) from Maxon Motor