The development of autonomous control systems, as well as the training of specialists in the field of unmanned technologies, is carried out by universities - participants in the project of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation "Advanced Engineering Schools" (NIS) in partnership with high-tech industry partners, reports press office of the project. In the future, this will ensure the technological sovereignty of the state and its competitiveness on the world stage.
The Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI), in cooperation with the Rusagro group of companies and the Institute for System Programming of the Russian Academy of Sciences, conducts research and development in the field of unmanned and digital technologies for the agricultural complex.
“The development of MAI is supposed to be carried out using domestic components and domestic software. Their implementation will increase the level of automation of agricultural work and reduce the impact of the human factor on the quality of technological operations. New technologies will optimize the management of agricultural machinery, including through autopilot, as well as improve the accuracy of forecasting various factors (for example, local weather conditions) and increase yields.”, - says Roman Kuzin, leader of the "Unmanned and digital technologies for the agricultural complex" direction of the PSH MAI.
Evgeny Bagryantsev, General Director of AssistAgro, noted: “As part of the federal project “Advanced Engineering Schools”, launched in 2022, MAI and AssistAgro are jointly conducting research in the field of testing the technology for unmanned inspection of fields. An unmanned aerial system for inspections is being developed, as well as a neural network and software capable of making decisions on the treatment of fields with herbicides are being created and tested. The scheme of work is simple: the drone’s artificial intelligence system identifies weeds with the help of synthetic vision, determines which herbicides and in what quantities should be applied to the field, and issues a recommendation.”.
Among the key projects of the Moscow Aviation Institute are services for the digital platform of the agricultural holding based on artificial intelligence technologies and big data, technologies for unmanned aerial systems for monitoring fields and performing aerial chemical work based on algorithms for high-precision positioning, automatic control, and ensuring the information security of the drone. In the future, the university will develop an automatic control system for ground agricultural machinery based on high-precision location technologies, creating and collecting data from sensor fields, managing and maintaining agricultural machinery using virtual and augmented reality methods.
Don State Technical University (DSTU), together with a partner, the Rostselmash Group of Companies, created the Institute of Advanced Mechanical Engineering, which will train engineering teams to solve the strategic tasks of Russian agricultural engineering.
“Integrating the competencies of high-tech production and the scientific base of the university on the NSP platform will make it possible to train a new generation of engineers capable of solving the most complex technical problems. Among these tasks are the development of a single modular scalable platform for combine harvesters, the development of a line of tractors and the creation of road construction equipment. As part of cooperation with DSTU, Rostselmash will provide students and teachers with effective internships at their industrial sites, provide an opportunity to participate in current projects, and implement other joint activities. Thanks to this, future specialists will acquire the necessary practical skills and become in demand in the profession even before graduation.”, - comments the general director of Rostselmash Valery Maltsev.
By 2028, the university plans to create an automated complex of electronic systems with unmanned properties that will increase productivity and improve the quality of harvested grain for a family of combine harvesters, and by 2030 - a universal modular scalable agricultural machine platform with the possibility of unmanned control.
“We are faced with the task of developing a single modular scalable platform for combine harvesters with automation of separation and threshing processes, with the possibility of intelligent unmanned control. The creation of such a platform will not only ensure the replacement of the entire model range of existing combine harvesters in the future until 2030, but will also double the number of agricultural machinery models produced, providing the opportunity to customize the product line for local consumer markets in the agro-industrial complex.”, - notes Inessa Efremenko, Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation at DSTU.