It has been two years of development, but the California startup, Monarch Tractor, has launched the MK-V Founder Series, an electric tractor with Artificial Intelligence. It has just announced delivery to its first client, the wine and spirits producer Constellation Brands.
Monarch’s electric tractor wants to help decarbonise agricultural operations. According to the company, replacing a diesel tractor with one of its models is equivalent to taking 14 passenger vehicles with combustion engines off the road. Also, since in many cases tractors are “essentially roaming robots”, it can help address labor shortages in agriculture.
The MK-V can serve as a farm tractor or transport vehicle and provides 52 kW (70 hp) of maximum power to all four wheels. It has nine forward gears and three reverse. The battery pack has the capacity to run for 14 hours, depending on the conditions of use, of course.
In case more time is needed working, you can remove the battery (we don’t know its weight or if it requires a special tool) and insert a new one. Interesting that it allows bidirectional charging, so the tractor could serve as a power source for tools and equipment in the field.
The MK-V weighs 2,360kg, with a towing capacity of 2,500kg, hitch lift capacity of 750kg and a turning radius of just under 2.9m. It integrates 4G and Wi-Fi connectivity modules and supports over-the-air software updates to keep the system up to date.
Under the hood, the MK-V features six Nvidia Jetson Xavier NX system modules along with two 3D cameras and six imaging cameras. This allows the vehicle to provide assistance to the driver, as well as perform pre-programmed operations without the driver. It also has a shadow mode, in which he follows the worker at a safe distance. It has collision avoidance and stops if a person is within 1.5 meters. It turns off completely if it detects a limb within 30 cm.
Tractor systems can also collect and analyze daily crop data to adjust jobs in real time, make long-term yield estimates and other crop health metrics.
How much? Pricing starts at $68,000. After a successful pilot test in 2021 in some California vineyards, it will now be necessary to see if working at Constellation Brands the MK-Vs are just as competent:
Source: Monarch Tractor