Dynamic generation of experimental treatment plans
A farming machine is configured to autonomously operate in a field to accomplish a farming objective. While doing so the farming machine can dynamically modify treatment plans and/or generate experimental treatment plans. Dynamically modifying treatment plans includes modifying, delaying, accelerating, adding, and/or removing farming actions in a treatment plan. Generating an experimental treatment plan includes intentionally modifying a treatment plan to induce a variance in a result, measuring the result, and determining whether the result from the experimental treatment plan is better than the unmodified treatment plan. The farming machine is also configured to generate user interactable feedback, and receive user generated instruction, to dynamically modify treatment plans and/or generate experimental treatment plans.
1 . An autonomous farming machine configured for generating an experimental treatment plan to perform in a field having a plurality of field portions, the autonomous farming machine comprising:
a sensor array configured to obtain measurements of treatment plans executed in the field;
a treatment array configured to perform a plant treatment plan in the field;
one or more processors; and
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer program instructions for generating the experimental treatment plan, the computer program instructions when executed by the one or more processors causing the autonomous farming machine to:
perform, using the treatment array, prescribed treatments of the plant treatment plan comprising a sequence of prescribed treatments as the autonomous farming machine moves through the field;
generate the experimental treatment plan comprising a sequence of experimental treatments for the autonomous farming machine to apply to a subset of the plurality of field portions in the field, and wherein generating the experimental treatment plan comprises:
determining the sequence of experimental treatments for the experimental treatment plan, wherein:
the sequence of experimental treatments configured to induce a variance;
the variance represents a deliberately induced agronomic difference between plants treated by the plant treatment plan and plants treated by the experimental treatment plan, and
the variance is measurable by the sensor array, and
generating the experimental treatment plan comprising the sequence of experimental treatments, wherein at least one experimental treatment in the experimental treatment plan is different from prescribed treatments of the plant treatment plan; and
performing, using the treatment array, the experimental treatment plan for the subset of field portions and the plant treatment plan for a remainder of field portions of the plurality of field portions.
2 . The autonomous farming machine of claim 1 , wherein the computer program instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the autonomous farming machine to:
modify the plant treatment plan for a subsequent season based on the experimental treatment plan;
modify the plant treatment plan such that prescribed treatments are not applied to the subset of field portions in the subsequent season; and
modify the plant treatment plan such that one or more of the prescribed treatments is replaced with one or more of the experimental treatments of the experimental treatment plan for the subsequent season.
3 . The autonomous farming machine of claim 1 , wherein the computer program instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the autonomous farming machine to:
generate a second experimental treatment plan comprising a second sequence of second experimental treatments for the autonomous farming machine to apply to a second subset of the plurality of field portions in the field, wherein:
at least one second experimental treatment in the second experimental treatment plan is different than prescribed treatments of the plant treatment plan and experimental treatments in the experimental treatment plan,
the second experimental treatment plan is configured to induce a second variance between plants treated by the plant treatment plan and plants treated with the second experimental treatment plan,
the variance induced by the experimental treatment plan is different from the second variance induced by the second experimental treatment plan, and
the second subset of the plurality of field portions is different than the subset of the plurality of field portions.
4 . The autonomous farming machine of claim 1 , wherein the computer program instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the autonomous farming machine to:
responsive to performing, using the treatment array, the experimental treatment plan for the subset of field portions and the prescribed treatment plan for the remainder of field portions:
obtain, using the sensor array, real-time measurements describing variance resulting from the experimental treatment plan in the subset of field portions;
obtain, using the sensor array, real-time measurements describing variance resulting from the plant treatment plan in the remainder of field portions; and
determine an induced variance caused by the experimental treatment plan by comparing real-time measurements indicating plant variance for the experimental treatment plan and the plant treatment plan.
5 . The autonomous farming machine of claim 1 , wherein the experimental treatment plan comprises at least one additional experimental treatment configured to be applied during a subsequent pass of the autonomous farming machine, and
the computer program instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the autonomous farming machine to perform the at least one additional experimental treatment on the subsequent pass of the farming machine through the field.
6 . The autonomous farming machine of claim 1 , wherein the computer program instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the autonomous farming machine to:
transmit, to a manager of the autonomous farming machine, the experimental treatment plan;
receive, from the manager the autonomous farming machine, a verification to proceed with the experimental treatment plan; and
wherein the experimental treatment plan is applied to the subset of field portions responsive to receiving the verification.
7 . The autonomous farming machine of claim 1 , wherein at least one experimental treatment of the experimental treatment plan is one or more of the following:
a different amount of treatment than a prescribed treatment in the plant treatment plan,
applied at a different location than a prescribed treatment in the plant treatment plan,
a different treatment type of treatment than a prescribed treatment of the plant treatment plan,
employs a different machine configuration of the autonomous farming machine than a prescribed treatment of the plant treatment plan.
8 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer program instructions for generating an experimental treatment plan, the computer program instructions when executed by one or more processors causing an autonomous farming machine to:
perform, using a treatment array of the autonomous farming machine, prescribed treatments of a plant treatment plan comprising a sequence of prescribed treatments as the autonomous farming machine moves through a field comprising a plurality of field portions;
generate, the using the one or more processors of the farming machine, the experimental treatment plan comprising a sequence of experimental treatments for the autonomous farming machine to apply to a subset of the plurality of field portions in the field, and wherein generating the experimental treatment plan comprises:
determining the sequence of experimental treatments for the experimental treatment plan, wherein:
the sequence of experimental treatments configured to induce a variance;
the variance represents a deliberately induced agronomic difference between plants treated by the plant treatment plan and plants treated by the experimental treatment plan, and
the variance is measurable by a sensor array, and
generating the experimental treatment plan comprising the sequence of experimental treatments, wherein at least one experimental treatment in the experimental treatment plan is different from prescribed treatments of the plant treatment plan;
perform, using the treatment array, the experimental treatment plan for the subset of field portions and the plant treatment plan for a remainder of field portions of the plurality of field portions.