Agricultural machine control based on agronomic and machine parameters
A control system detects an agricultural machine position to determine when the agricultural machine is approaching a decision point. The decision point is a point at which the agricultural machine can move forward along one of two or more predefined possible paths. The control system detects agronomic factors and vehicle-related parameters to decide on the path to take at the decision point. The control system then generates control signals to pursue the path decided upon.
1 . An agricultural system, comprising:
at least one processor; and
memory storing computer executable instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the agricultural system to:
detect a decision point, indicative of a location in a travel path over a field, at which an agricultural machine can follow a possible path that includes unharvested crop;
process one or more crop damage parameters to identify a crop damage result indicative of estimated crop damage the agricultural machine will inflict on crops in the field if the agricultural machine travels over the possible path;
identify one or more maneuvers to perform along at least a portion of the possible path based on a determination that the estimated crop damage exceeds a crop damage threshold and a determination that the possible path has a path length less than a path length threshold; and
control the agricultural machine to perform the one or more maneuvers.
2 . The agricultural system of claim 1 , wherein the path length threshold is defined based on one or more characteristics of the agricultural machine.
3 . The agricultural system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more characteristics comprise one or more physical properties of the agricultural machine.
4 . The agricultural system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more maneuvers comprises a reverse maneuver that reverses the agricultural machine from a point along the possible path toward the decision point.
5 . The agricultural system of claim 4 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the agricultural system to:
determine a likelihood that the agricultural machine can successfully execute the reverse maneuver based on one or more characteristics of the reverse maneuver and one or more characteristics of the agricultural machine; and
control the agricultural machine based on the likelihood.
6 . A computer implemented method of controlling an agricultural machine, the computer implemented method comprising:
detecting a decision point, indicative of a location in a field over which the agricultural machine is traveling, at which the agricultural machine can follow one of a plurality of different pre-defined possible paths;
identifying a particular path, of the plurality of different pre-defined possible paths, as based on a decision criterion;
processing one or more crop damage parameters to identify a crop damage result indicative of estimated crop damage if the agricultural machine travels over the particular path;
based on a determination that the estimated crop damage exceeds a crop damage threshold, determining that the particular path has a path length less than a path length threshold;
based on the particular path having a path length less than the path length threshold, identifying one or more maneuvers that, after traversing at least a portion of the particular path, return the agricultural machine to the decision point and traverse at least one other path of the plurality of different pre-defined possible paths; and
controlling the agricultural machine based on the one or more maneuvers.
7 . The computer implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the decision criterion comprises path length.
8 . The computer implemented method of claim 6 , wherein identifying the particular path comprises selecting a shortest path of the plurality of different pre-defined possible paths.
9 . The computer implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the one or more maneuvers comprise a reverse maneuver from a point along the particular path toward the decision point.
10 . The computer implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the path length threshold is defined based on one or more characteristics of the agricultural machine.
11 . The computer implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the one or more characteristics comprise one or more physical properties of the agricultural machine.
12 . A computer implemented method of controlling an agricultural machine, the computer implemented method comprising:
detecting a decision point, indicative of a location in a travel path over a field, at which the agricultural machine can follow a possible path that includes unharvested crop;
processing one or more crop damage parameters to identify a crop damage result indicative of estimated crop damage the agricultural machine will inflict on crops in the field if the agricultural machine travels over the possible path;
identifying one or more maneuvers to perform along at least a portion of the possible path based on a determination that the estimated crop damage exceeds a crop damage threshold and a determination that the possible path has a path length less than a path length threshold; and
controlling the agricultural machine to perform the one or more maneuvers.
13 . The computer implemented method of claim 12 , wherein the path length threshold is defined based on one or more characteristics of the agricultural machine.
14 . The computer implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more characteristics comprise one or more physical properties of the agricultural machine.
15 . The computer implemented method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more maneuvers comprises a reverse maneuver that reverses the agricultural machine from a point along the possible path toward the decision point.
16 . The computer implemented method of claim 15 , and further comprising:
determining a likelihood that the agricultural machine can successfully execute the reverse maneuver based on one or more characteristics of the reverse maneuver and one or more characteristics of the agricultural machine; and
controlling the agricultural machine based on the likelihood.