LS Mtron Participates in Agricultural Robot Demonstration Project... Autonomous Tractor Field Operation Demonstration

Delivery of 5 Autonomous Work Tractors to Hamyang-gun, Gyeongnam
Reducing Cultivation Time for Onion Fields and Paddy Fields
"Fully Committed to Developing Completely Unmanned Operation Technology"

LS Mtron announced on the 13th that it has delivered five MT7 SmarTreK autonomous work tractors to Hamyang-gun, Gyeongnam Province. At the demonstration event for the vegetable sector of the agricultural robot verification support project, the tractors were shown working in an onion field.

The event took place on the 7th at Handul area in Hamyang, attended by about 50 people including officials from the Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency and Hamyang-gun. The Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency is investing a budget of 20 billion KRW over five years from this year until 2027 to support on-site verification. This year, three regions?Dangjin City, Haenam-gun, and Hamyang-gun?are being supported. LS Mtron commercialized the MT7 SmarTreK domestically for the first time and delivered five units to Hamyang-gun.

LS Mtron demonstrated deep plowing (plow), tillage and leveling (rotary), and ridge making and covering (ridge maker and soil coverer) operations using the MT7 SmarTreK. Tillage and leveling prepare the soil condition to sow seeds or plant seedlings. Ridge making and covering create ridges for sowing seeds and cover them with soil.

The autonomous work tractor MT7 SmarTrek is performing plastic film covering work by itself at the field demonstration event of the agricultural robot verification support project in Hamyang-gun.
[Photo by LS Mtron]

Field crops such as onions and garlic are more diverse compared to paddy crops like rice. Various implements suitable for each crop must be used. At the demonstration, LS Mtron showed that using autonomous work tractors can reduce rotary work time on a 1,200-pyeong (approximately 3,967 m²) field from 30 minutes to 21 minutes, about a 30% reduction, similar to paddy field operations.

Since the commercialization of the MT7 SmarTreK, LS Mtron has been selling to public institutions, agricultural cooperatives, and general farmers. The product features autonomous execution of forward/reverse movement, turning, and implement linkage without separate operation. It offers level 3 autonomous work capabilities, including straight driving, turning, and implement control. This product applies an obstacle detection function essential for achieving level 4, which enables fully unmanned operation. Through this, work time was reduced by 17% and yield increased by 8%.

Lee Sang-min, Executive Director of the Tractor Business Division, said, "LS Mtron’s autonomous work tractors can be utilized not only for paddy fields but also for field work. Mechanization of field work in Korea has been slow, but LS Mtron will focus more on developing not only mechanization but also fully unmanned operation (level 4) technology."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.