Prospects for a Rice-transplanter with Automatic Steering Function from the Standpoint of the Potential Performance and Economic Efficiency

Abstract

This paper evaluates the potential performance and economic efficiency of the rice-transplanter（KUBOTA corporation, EP8D-GS） with automatic steering function in terms of operating accuracy and working efficiency. We confirmed that the rice-transplanter achieves high efficiency with the proper operating accuracy when the operator engages in supplying young seedlings using the automatic steering. This mode of operation has a large economic effect because of the reduction in the number of workers needed. However, there is a problem in the safety of this operation. The rice-transplanter is not equipped with a safety device that assumes that the operator seat is unoccupied. We concluded that we must further improve reliability in the design in order to overcome this drawback.