- AGVs mixed with AI, expectations of building better upcoming for agricultural sector
- Can be integrated with other AGVs through swarm technologies, collect data
Meraque Services Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian solution firm, has unveiled the first autonomous terrain vehicle (AGV) for the plantation sector. The AGV has been named RACE, an acronym for Robotic Agro in Complex Atmosphere.
In a statement, Meraque said RACE was developed to reduce reliance on manpower and improve fertiliser spraying consistency in oil hand plantations.
With a high-power processing module in the mind, RACE is able to get around its way autonomously between the oil palm trees, analyse surroundings designed for decision-making and routing as well as set boundaries using high-precision location points, it mentioned.
Ressortchef (umgangssprachlich) of plantation sectors and commodities Zuraida Kamaruddin said, “New innovations such as Meraque’s RACE will help fortify Malaysia’s standing being a leading producer of agro commodity products internationally.
“It is a testament that our home-grown manufacturers are more than capable of producing world-class solutions that have the propensity to solve real world challenges in the agro-industry. ”
In 2020, Meraque claimed to get developed its first Malaysian hybrid bringing out drone to spot spray fertilisers and pesticides in crops to circumvent diseases within plantations.
Its success sparked the concept for a locally developed AGV explicitly created to fit the needs of the local oil palm plantations, providing an answer to labour shortages, fluctuating yield, and high costs, it said.
COMPETITION comes embedded using a load capacity of 150 litre (equivalent to 150kg) for the small-scale prototype, that is suited for strip spraying, the company said.
In contrast, the full-scale prototype comes with over 500 litre of load capacity to support both remove spraying and manuring activities. RACE could be integrated with other AGVs through its swarm technology and can navigate its swarm to finish projects expeditiously, in phases, it mentioned.
Phase one of the project covers the AGV routing spraying system in a complex environment like the oil palm planting to collect data plus analyse patterns designed for AI training, Meraque said.
Phase two will discover the configuration of the high payload capacity and manuring activities. The final phase is where the deployment from the swarm happens after integration with the swarm technology, it added.
Meraque chief executive officer Md Razalee Ismail said, “With Meraque’s plantation AGVs that are infused with artificial intelligence, hopefully to build a better tomorrow for the agricultural industry helping more plantations in improving efficiencies, preserving yields, dealing with labour costs plus shortages, mitigating capricious weather, increasing production and maximizing income, all while making sure sustainable practices. ”
Meraque claimed to hold the biggest market share for jingle spraying services in Malaysia.
The company said It really is looking at training plus hiring at least five hundred local talents right at the end of 2023 to satisfy the growing requirement of the palm oil sector as well as other large farming sectors such as durian, rubber, coconut, paddy field, and pineapple.
Earlier last week, Meraque announced its partnership with Malaysia Debt Ventures Bhd (MDV), a subsidiary from the Minister of Financing (Incorporated) to facilitate the growth associated with Meraque’s operations plus expansion in Malaysia and the Asean region.
The important thing focus is at the agriculture, plantation, infrastructure and telecommunication sector, through MDV’s specialist financing facility, it said.