Amazone presents new precision seed drill at SIMA Paris

Amazone is one of the nominees for the SIMA Innovation Awards in the Category Robotics and embedded electronics.

The Centaya Special is offered in hopper sizes of 1,000 litres and 1,500 litres and has a working width of 3 metre. The pneumatic harrow-mounted precision seed drill can be equipped with the RoTeC single disc coulter or with the TwinTeC Special double disc coulter of Amazone.

The segmented distributor head on the precision seed drill is mounted behind the seed hopper directly above the coulters. This ensures a short conveying time for the seed. The hopper is positioned well forward and offers an optimum centre of gravity close to the tractor. The distributor head can be easily reached via the loading board and can then be regularly checked. Setting the tramline system is also easy to carry out, says Amazone.

The low profile of the hopper gives the driver a good overview of the machine. The very large 2.30 metre x 0.84 metre hopper fill opening enables a quick fill from big bags, front end loaders and small sacks. Thanks to the deep hopper tip and steep hopper walls, the seed is consistently delivered to the metering system. The design makes sure that only small residual amounts are left in the hopper.

Precision seed drill controlled via ISOBUS

The Centaya Special harrow-mounted precision seed drill is controlled via ISOBUS. In-house developed Amazone software allows intuitive operation by the driver. In combination with the TwinTerminal, the machine can be quickly and simply prepared for drilling.

Calibration of the seed hopper can be carried out from the loading board. An accessible metering unit on the bottom of the hopper ensures even seed metering. The seed is gathered in the collection bag supplied and is weighed using the scales that are included as standard.

For other seeds, or different seed rates, Amazone offers a variety of different metering cassettes for the Centaya Special. Only two bolts need to be released directly on the metering unit, for changing the metering cassettes.

In order to make pre-metering, calibration and residue emptying easier, Amazone offers the Comfort Pack with TwinTerminal 3.0 for the Centaya Special in conjunction with the AmaTron 4. This terminal is fixed in place with a magnet close to the metering unit. Calibration is therefore carried out directly down on the machine. ISOBUS control of the precision seed drill combination can be performed either by the AmaTron 4 or the AmaPad 2 ISOBUS terminals from Amazone, or by any other ISOBUS terminal from a third-party manufacturer.

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QuickLink quick coupling system

The precision seed drill can be quickly connected without tools to the various Amazone soil tillage implements, via the QuickLink quick coupling system. Depending on the soil conditions, it can be combined with the KE 02 rotary harrow or the KG and KX rotary cultivators. The Centaya Special can be combined with the CombiDisc compact disc harrow for use on very light soils.

Ecorobotix presents high-precision mounted sprayer

Swiss company Ecorobotix will commercially launch its high-precision mounted sprayer Ara at the international agricultural exhibition SIMA in Paris. The new sprayer was tested extensively in several trials and is now suited for many row crops, from beets to field vegetables and rapeseed.

The high-precision tool works over a width of 6 m, thanks to three modules with a width of just over two meters each. Each module comes with two sets of a 3D camera, a colour camera and a computer. This enables the module to trace the profile of the soil and the vegetation while spraying.

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156 nozzles

A total of 52 nozzles are distributed over the width of each module. The total of 156 nozzles manages the precise application of phytosanitary products over the total width of 6m. The Ara can spray on squares as small as 6 cm.

The high-precision sprayer can locate plants very precisely and distinguishes cultivated plants from weeds after analysing them, using artificial intelligence. Odometry delivers a precise delay between the passage of the camera and the opening of the nozzles, taking into account the forward speed and any lateral movements.

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Reduction of at least 80%

Ecorobotix says the Ara gives farmers a plant-by-plant precision and a reduction of at least 80% in the amount of product used. The recommended forward speed is a maximum of 7.2 km per hour. The working rate is 4 hectare per hour. The Ara can be used in three modes depending on the type of product being sprayed. For selective products, all weeds are targeted, including those in direct contact with crops.