The agricultural equipment specialists, Martin Lishman and the UK-based Manterra, have joined forces to produce a fully automated GPS sprayer – by mounting a Martin Lishman Mini-Spray 125-litre demount sprayer with 3.5m boom, onto a Manterra XAG R150 fully autonomous utility vehicle.
The sprayer is controlled via GPS and uses the Trimble control system to offer a range of variable application rates, while the Trimble Weedseeker sensors provide targeted application solutions.
Benefits of the automated sprayer include accurate and minimised chemical usage during spraying; plus, as the sprayer runs completely unmanned, it offers improved on-farm health and safety measures as operators are further separated from chemicals.
Additionally, the battery-powered XAG R150 is one of the quieter and lighter utility task vehicle (UTV) models, which minimises soil disturbance and ground pressures.
Operators can also employ the ‘follow me’ mode, on the XAG UTV, for spot spraying applications. With this, the R150 will follow the operator, stopping and starting automatically at a 2 metre distance. “Ultimately, the applications for the sprayer and XAG platform are only limited by the ingenuity of the operator,” said Manterra’s managing director Andrew Manfield
Speaking on the Martin Lishman and Manterra collaboration, he continued: “We were struggling to find a UK based manufacturer who could fill all our requirements for lead time, quality, specification and value. Martin Lishman were able to fulfil all our requirements, and worked closely with us to meet our needs and were always responsive to our requests.”
Martin Lishman managing director, Gavin Lishman, said: “We jumped at the opportunity to get involved when Manterra approached us.Our sprayers are going from strength to strength each year and we can firmly say that they have taken a strong hold in both the agricultural and amenity industries. We’ve seen GPS driven sprayers before, but never a fully autonomous unmanned sprayer – this could be a world first!”