Smart autonomous grain carts for harvesting-on-demand

Abstract

In this work, we address the problem of centralized scheduling and motion planning for multiple grain carts with finite capacity that serve a group of combine harvesters engaged in a harvesting operation. First, we solve a facility location problem of finding the optimal depot position to minimize the distance traveled by the grain carts. Next, we formulate the scheduling problem as a constraint satisfaction problem. For a rectangular field, we present two schemes which allow the grain carts to unload all the combine harvesters without interrupting the harvesting activity. Finally, for both schemes, we present a relation between the physical parameters of the vehicles that need to be satisfied in order to meet the scheduling constraints.