| Patent holder | Inesc Tec Instituto De Engenharia De Sist De Computadores TecModellogia E Ciencia |
| Patent link | View patent |
| Category | Silviculture (Tending) › Pruning & thinning |
A forestry Autonomous vehicle
This technology describes an autonomous forestry vehicle that integrates mulching or chipping equipment with optical sensing and machine identification and control systems to perform vegetation processing operations without continuous human operator input. The concept brings together several strands of robotics and forestry mechanisation: the mulching or chipping module provides the mechanical means to reduce standing or felled vegetation to chips or mulch in a single pass, while the optical sensing subsystem — typically comprising LiDAR, stereo cameras, or depth sensors — provides the vehicle's perception of its environment, enabling it to locate trees, estimate stem dimensions, and navigate safely through complex forest terrain. The identification and control means refers to the onboard computing and software layer that processes sensor inputs, classifies vegetation targets (distinguishing, for example, between mature crop trees to be retained and suppression vegetation to be mulched), and coordinates the vehicle's movement, tool positioning, and processing actions accordingly. Such a system addresses a significant labour and safety challenge in forestry: mulching and chipping operations in plantation thinning, road corridor clearing, and post-harvest site preparation are physically demanding, dusty, and hazardous tasks often performed in remote locations. An autonomous vehicle capable of executing these tasks would enable continuous operation, reduce operator fatigue-related incidents, and allow skilled personnel to be redeployed to supervisory or higher-value roles. In Australia, where silvicultural site preparation and firebreak maintenance across large plantation and native forest estates are significant operational costs, this class of autonomous machine has attracted commercial and research interest, with development activity occurring at the intersection of agricultural robotics, forestry machinery, and computer vision research.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Company | Inesc Tec Instituto De Engenharia De Sist De Computadores TecModellogia E Ciencia |
| Type | Patent |
| Year | 15/12/20 |
| Status | discontinued |
| FWPA RD&E | 4.4 |
| Inventors | Baptista Neves Dos Santos Filipe, Bianchi De Aguiar Araujo Figueiredo Andre |
| Patent No. | EP 4011198 A1 |