Eric Smith, Engineering Manager – Precision Agriculture, JCA Technologies...

Eric Kapilik is an Engineering Student at the University of Manitoba who has returned to JCA Electronics for a second 4-month summer term in the JCA Electronics Engineering Group. During his first summer term at JCA he developed a Tradeshow Demo for JCA’s Autonomous Framework. This summer he is doing research and development for technology...

Quite a while ago farms transitioned from a single machine working a field, be it self-propelled or tractor and implement combination, to multiple machines working simultaneously and sometimes in tandem.  Electronics on the machines and data gathering have become commonplace as well, all in an effort to improve efficiencies and the bottom line.  Typically, data...

Breaking down the tools and tech that make the next generation farm a reality. Introduction To find efficiency and improved profitability on the farm, there are rapidly developing technologies that can make the farm and the producer much more productive. How does the hard-working farmer make sense of it all and gain confidence that the...

Erik Kapilik is an engineering student at the University of Manitoba that recently completed a 4-month summer term with JCA Electronics in the JCA Engineering group, where he had the opportunity to gain experience in autonomous machine technology through building a tradeshow demo that integrates some pieces of JCA’s autonomous framework. This article gives an...

By Darcy Cook – VP Engineering, JCA Electronics There has been fast growth in the development of autonomous agricultural machines over the past few years. Most machines that have been promoted publicly are either concept machines developed by OEMs and research organizations, or machines launched by start-ups looking to be the first broad solution in...

The agBOT challenge is an international competition designed to motivate universities and entrepreneurs to develop innovative, high-tech solutions to advance the agricultural industry. Founded in 2015 by Steve Gerrish, owner of Gerrish Farms in Indiana and his daughter Rachel Gerrish, the event has become a must for companies, researchers, students and hobbyists interested in agricultural robotics....

JCA Electronics was awarded the 2019 Emerging Award by the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) for its work in autonomous controls development on agricultural equipment. At this years gala dinner, John Anderson, President of JCA Electronics accepted the award on behalf of the company. Excerpts of his acceptance speech are included below. Opening Remarks So how does...

The Growing Complexity of Software Over the last 20 years, the off-highway vehicle market has seen an exponential growth in the complexity of software running on agriculture and construction equipment.  Initial software applications for these machines where typically only a few 100 lines of code and provided only limited functionality, such as lighting control.  However,...

Using ROS for Rapid Deployment through shorter time to market and lower development costs. Advances in sensing and automation technologies continue to provide opportunities to bring new value to off-highway mobile machine applications. Sensing and control technologies that have been used for years in robotics are becoming ruggedized and dropping in cost, now making them...