Agricultural equipment manufacturer, Case IH announced the launch of the world’s first in-field servicing robot called the Robo-Sharpener. The robot has been specifically developed to sharpen the wavy and standard tilling blades of the True-Tandem 330 Turbo, which is manufactured by the company.
The Case IH Robo-SharpenerTM is the world’s first field-service robot for sharpening both wavy and standard concave tillage blades
The manually controlled sharpener can be fitted on the tilling equipment, thus eliminating the need to find a level ground to sharpen the blades.
Sharpening of the blades can be done in a very short time since the robot moves along the rail from blade to blade through a trolley system. This process can be done while the equipment is on the field or separately in the service area. The sharpener is attached to a pendulum and the weight of the sharpener provides optimum force to the pendulum to detect the formation of the wavy tilling blades. The speed, at which the blade should rotate, is decided by a gang driver. This arrangement removes the heat from the tilling blade and helps the robot to sharpen the blades without compromising on the quality of the steel. The process enhances the tilling ability of the blades since they can cut across tough soil and corn.
Sharpening the blades also effectively reduces the cost of re-blading since the blades can be re-sharpened number of times. Sharp blades on the tilling equipment help in the enhancement of nutrients present in crop fertilisers such as phosphorous and potassium. They also effectively reduce the extent of damage in the tires of the equipment since tough corn stalks are easily removed.