Agricultural Machinery Engineering
The mechanisms, sensors, autonomy, and electrification of tractors, combines, and rice transplanters across current products and research.
Find a reading order in the learning guides → Search this field →
Agricultural Machinery Engineering
September 4, 2026
Agricultural Machinery Engineering 101: Agricultural Drones — Airframe Design for Spraying and Growth Sensing
The term 'agricultural drone' actually covers two systems with very different characters: spray drones that carry pesticides and fertilizer, and sensing drones that measure crop condition. This article reads through actual machine specs and public materials the spray system of tank/pump/nozzle, NDVI as a growth indicator, and the structure of Japan's Civil Aeronautics Act and flight-level regulations.
Fundamentals · 9 min
Agricultural Machinery Engineering
September 4, 2026
Agricultural Machinery Engineering 101: Livestock Machinery — Automating the Milking Robot, TMR, Manure Removal, and Individual Cow Management
A milking robot runs on a voluntary system in which the cow herself chooses when she's milked; a TMR mixer turns an inhomogeneous granular material — feed — into a single uniform meal; manure-removal robots and individual-management sensors keep barn hygiene and reproductive management running without a break. This article reads through equations and public materials current products including the Lely Astronaut, DeLaval VMS V300, domestic TMR mixers, Orion Machinery's BARN-E, and Farmnote Color.
Fundamentals · 17 min
Agricultural Machinery Engineering
September 4, 2026
Agricultural Machinery Engineering 101: RTK Guidance — From Satellite Positioning to Autonomous Steering and Variable-Rate Application
RTK-GNSS delivers centimeter-class position, but by itself it steers nothing. This article works through the engineering chain that makes 'RTK guidance' actually reduce labor and sharpen precision in tractors and rice transplanters: AB-line/curve/contour guidance patterns, the control loop that feeds lateral deviation back into steering angle, and the link to yield and application maps.
Fundamentals · 10 min
Agricultural Machinery Engineering
September 4, 2026
Agricultural Machinery Engineering 101: Seeders and Fertilizer Applicators — How to Keep Delivering One Seed, One Fixed Amount, Continuously
A seeder isn't a 'machine that sows seeds' — it's a metering machine that cuts an irregular granular material, the seed, into a fixed interval. This article reads through equations and public materials the principles of mechanical-plate and pneumatic (vacuum/pressure) metering, broadcast/band/variable-rate fertilization, and current product examples.
Fundamentals · 10 min
Agricultural Machinery Engineering
September 3, 2026
Agricultural Machinery Engineering 101: The Combine Harvester — From Cutting to Cleaning and Automation
The head-feeding combine harvester that cuts rice, threshes it, separates the grain, and stores it in a tank. This article reads the combine as mechanical engineering — why it originated in Japan, the internal material flow, the equations used to measure loss, yield/quality sensors, the published specs of current models, and where autonomous operation and electrification stand today.
Fundamentals · 18 min
Agricultural Machinery Engineering
September 3, 2026
Agricultural Machinery Engineering 101: The Rice Transplanter — How Seedlings Are Moved Into the Paddy, One Hill at a Time
A rice transplanter is not just a machine that carries seedlings. This article reads it through equations and public materials — the feed system that cuts a seedling mat down to one hill at a time, the trajectory of the planting claw, row/hill spacing and depth, paddy-surface tracking via floats, and everything from walk-behind machines to robotic units.
Fundamentals · 21 min
Agricultural Machinery Engineering
September 3, 2026
Agricultural Machinery Engineering 101: The Tractor — From Traction and PTO to the Three-Point Linkage and Autonomous Driving
A tractor is a portable power source that splits the engine's output among wheels/crawlers, the PTO, and the hydraulic three-point linkage. This article explains, as mechanical engineering, traction and slip, tillage-depth control, RTK-GNSS, soil/yield sensors, and where electrification stands.
Fundamentals · 18 min