Autoplant—Autonomous Site Preparation and Tree Planting for a Sustainable Bioeconomy

• Published in: Forests 2024, Vol.15 (2), p.263
• Main Authors: Hansson, Linnea J., Sten, Gustav, Rossander, Morgan, Lideskog, Håkan, Manner, Jussi, van Westendorp, Ruben, Li, Songyu, Eriksson, Anders, Wallner, Anna, Rönnqvist, Mikael, Flisberg, Patrik, Edlund, Björn, Möller, Björn, Karlberg, Magnus
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Automation; Carbon sequestration; Clearcutting; Cranes; Driving ability; Economic aspects; Emissions; Energy consumption; Environmental aspects; Environmental impact; Environmental management; Field tests; Forestry; Forests; Greenhouse gases; Machine Design; Maskinkonstruktion; mechanical site preparation; Methods; Motion perception; Motion planning; New technology; obstacle detection; Planning; Plant management; Planting; Productivity; Regeneration; Route planning; silviculture; Subsystems; Supervisors; Sustainable forestry; system analysis; Tree planting; Trenching; Vibration response; Vibrations; Work environment; Working conditions
• ISSN: 1999-4907; 1999-4907
• DOI: 10.3390/f15020263

Sustainable forestry requires efficient regeneration methods to ensure that new forests are established quickly. In Sweden, 99% of the planting is manual, but finding labor for this arduous work is difficult. An autonomous scarifying and planting machine with high precision, low environmental impact, and a good work environment would meet the needs of the forest industry. For two years, a collaborative group of researchers, manufacturers, and users (forest companies) has worked together on developing and testing a new concept for autonomous forest regeneration (Autoplant). The concept comprises several subsystems, i.e., regeneration and route planning, autonomous driving (path planning), new technology for forest regeneration with minimal environmental impact, automatic plant management, crane motion planning, detection of planting spots, and follow-up. The subsystems were tested separately and integrated together during a field test at a clearcut. The concept shows great potential, especially from an environmental perspective, with significantly reduced soil disturbances, from approximately 50% (the area proportion of the area disturbed by disc trenching) to less than 3%. The Autoplant project highlights the challenges and opportunities related to future development, e.g., the relation between machine cost and operating speed, sensor robustness in response to vibrations and weather, and precision in detecting the size and type of obstacles during autonomous driving and planting.