Flexible Research Field for Autonomous Mobile Machines (FAMM)

• Subject Area: Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine
• Term: from 2021 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 460878234

A central outstanding issue of current agricultural research is the extent to which the topic of digitization will fundamentally create opportunities for the agriculture of the future, which includes the areas of communication, automation to autonomization, sensor technology, etc. One of the key questions here is what potentials arise from the development of new types of agricultural machinery (machine concepts & size, degree of automation, process technology) and this primarily in combination with alternative crop production systems (type of cultivation, combination of plants, etc.). The overriding goal is to develop solutions for the challenges arising from the three pillars of sustainability, i.e. the ecological, economic and social aspects of sustainability. A great need for research has been identified, particularly in fundamental investigations in the field of long-term use of corresponding cooperative robot systems, in which several robots with the same or even different functions are working together to achieve a common goal under real conditions. Studies published today severely restrict the research area in terms of time, location and function. A transferability of the research results to real field use cannot be guaranteed because of the range of different boundary and disturbance variables that can occur here. In order to be able to carry out such fundamental investigations and to collect and document reliable results, the "Flexible Research Field for Autonomous Mobile Machines" (acronym: FAMM) is applied for as a large-scale facility.FAMM consists of several technical units. The combination of these equipment make it possible to conduct field studies in various complex, primarily agricultural scenarios, but also, for example, on large construction sites. The basic concept is based on the creation of technical possibilities to measure scenarios and test objects, to document the tests and to directly evaluate the test data for the purpose of direct use, e.g. for controlling test objects. In order to meet the requirements to be able to investigate different scenarios, the entire technology (server, communication, positioning, measurement and documentation technology as well as the energy supply) is to be accommodated in a vehicle converted to a mobile control center. To transport the robots as well as the remaining equipment, a larger vehicle trailer is also planned, which is also equipped with the above-mentioned basic technology and creates the conditions to investigate even extensive or locally distributed scenarios. FAMM's unique selling point is its ability to carry out tests at locations with no or only very limited infrastructure, thus enabling research and development of agricultural systems away from idealized test fields under real conditions.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Flexible Forschungsfeld für autonome mobile Maschinen (FAMM)
• Instrumentation Group: 2520 Spezielle Kraftfahrzeuge (Zugmaschinen, Feuerwehrfahrzeuge, Krankenwagen
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Braunschweig
• Leader: Professor Dr. Ludger Frerichs