John Deere ‘WALKING HARVESTER / WALKING TRACTOR’, John Deere, Plustech/Timberjack Subsidiaries, Finland.
In 1994, a subsidiary of John Deere produced a pair of experimental prototype ‘Walking Tractors’, for use in the forestry industry with the aim of tackling a fair few problems that standard vehicles repeatedly ran into.
First up was the goal of conquering difficult terrain. With the Walking Harvester’s six legs, not only did it remain stable while going over rough ground, it could turn in place, walk straight to the left or right sides, step over obstacles, and keep its body level, no matter the incline degree of the forest floor.
Secondly, standard tires would constantly leave grooves, which would channel rainwater and lead to soil erosion (which believe it or not, is not something the forestry industry wants to happen.) The Walking Harvester’s feet spread the weight out over all six legs when taking steps, and would leave the ground intact.
Sensors in the feet of these machines could actually read the type of soil beneath, and so would tell its Measuring and Control system to adjust its gait accordingly. This and other balance systems were also controlled by a central ‘TMC’ system computer, which in turn was designed to make piloting easy for the operator, allowing them to control its movements from a single joystick.
Add a traditional logging arm to the back of one of these walkers, and what you have is essentially a mech. It’s unknown to this tumblr user if the two prototype machines were given separate designations, but they are visually distinct from each other, one having a tractor-like cabin near the center of the machine, and the other having its cockpit located at the front, giving it the appearance of a giant grasshopper.
The concept walkers put in over 200 hours of operational and testing time, at the end of which, the consensus to John Deere and other parties was that the machine was too slow, and that the technology was too far ahead of its time. They took the lessons learned though, and have applied them to all future John Deere machines since then.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
It is believed that the grasshopper-like machine is in storage somewhere on John Deere property. The other one however, at last report, is fully on-display at the John Deere Pavilion in Moline, Illinois, USA, having been placed on exhibit in 2012. As far as we know it’s still there, but if we’re wrong, please let us know!
This article will be updated if more information becomes available.
Videos of the Walking Harvester in action.
References:
Fox News Auto, ‘John Deere Walking Harvester treads lightly and carries very big sticks’, circa July 24, 2012. http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2012/07/24/john-deere-walking-harvester-treads-lightly-and-carries-very-big-sticks.html
The Old Robots, ‘Walking Tractor Timberjack by John Deere’, circa Sep 14, 2009. http://www.theoldrobots.com/Walking-Robot2.html
SAE International, ‘A Deere walks into a forest...’, circa Jun 13, 2012. http://articles.sae.org/11118/
