The global unmanned spraying system (GUSS) is expected to revolutionise orchard management with up to eight vehicles able to be operated by one person.
A highlight of this year’s Fruit Growers Victoria conference was a demonstration of the futuristic self-driven orchard sprayer, which drew an enormous crowd of delegates onto the Shepparton Showgrounds.
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The global unmanned spraying system (GUSS) has been developed and manufactured in California’s San Joaquin Valley and combines GPS, LiDAR (light detection and ranging) and vehicle sensors to spray orchards without an operator.
Up to eight GUSS sprayers can be operated by one farmer from a laptop.
Matt Hall from Haeuslers Group told the delegates there were only 16 GUSS sprayers in Australia with another 10 on order from the 300 operating worldwide.
He said one person could operate eight machines simultaneously.
“In the laptop in the (ute), that’s where the brain talks to all the sprayers,” Mr Hall said.
“We load up the program, tell it where we want it to go, press go and it drives itself.”
A key requirement to the system is a ‘nurse cart’ which carries up to 30,000 litres of spray to refill the 2500 litre tanks on each GUSS.
“They can then operate 24/7,” Mr Hall said.
He said a ‘select sprayer’ was a further enhancement that could save up to 70 per cent of overall costs.
A select sprayer detects desired trees, regardless of their size, and sprays the required amount of material to properly cover every tree as well as reducing spray drift.
The Orchard GUSS showing off its automated ability to determine the location of trees to apply a targeted spray.
Mr Hall demonstrated only the Orchard GUSS, but said a Mini GUSS was also available.
“And there is also the Herbicide GUSS, fitted with a spot spraying weeding system.”
Mr Hall said John Deere had bought into a partnership with the company.
“John Deere are also developing an electric automated herbicide spray system.”
The GUSS was then deployed to demonstrate its effectiveness between two rows of ornamental trees on the showground’s oval, impressing the crowd during three laps.
John Haeusler gave delegates at the FGV conference an opportunity to look at the GUSS up close.
