Olds College Smart Farm will be operating DOT autonomous equipment in the field for the first time this spring. As part of a three-year Smart Farm research project, the college will collect information and observations to understand the benefits and challenges of autonomous agricultural equipment. One of the DOT implements students will use is the DOT Sprayer developed by CAAR member Pattison Liquid Systems.

The college will be using the DOT A-U1 mobile diesel power platform, along with the DOT Seeder from SeedMaster Ultra DSR, the DOT Sprayer from Connect by Pattison, and the DOT-ready New Leader NL5000 nutrient applicator.

The DOT power platform is designed for flexibility, efficiency, and scalability to help both small and large farms increase their productivity. Read The Communicator’s story Applying Automation from August 2018 for more on the decisions behind DOT’s design and development.

“Being able to provide this kind of cutting-edge technology experience to our students is invaluable,” says James Benkie, Dean, Werklund School of Agriculture Technology. “Our students will be exposed to the hardware, software, and data needed to integrate, operate and manage the full DOT Autonomous Power Platform on the Olds College Smart Farm.”

According to the college, bringing DOT and DOT-ready implements to the Smart Farm represent a significant first step toward autonomous commercial agricultural operations. CAAR Congratulates Olds College on this milestone, made possible through research investments from Western Economic Diversification Canada and private partners such as Raven Applied Technology, which became the sole owner of Dot Technology Corp. earlier this year.

Learn more about how the Olds college Smart Farm is preparing the next generation of agriculture grads to work with data and evolving technology in The Communicator’s December 2019 story, Preparing for the Skills Revolution.