Combining all the functions of silage loading, weighing, mixing, distribution and feed pushing, the Aura provides a fully autonomous and self-propelled feeding solution.
Senior management confirmed the Kuhn Group was busy developing a number of autonomous solutions during a European press launch at company HQ at Saverne in France last August.
The details are currently limited, but the Aura is the company’s first autonomous solution to break cover. The result of an ALFS (Autonomous Livestock Feeding System) concept project started in 2015, the finished version won an innovation prize at the digital edition of the French exhibition Space 2020.
Similar to that used on current self-propelled mixer wagons, the front loading device extracts silage directly from the clamp into the 3.0m³ capacity tub.
Guidance outside the buildings is managed by GPS RTK technology combined with an odometer. Inside buildings it is taken care of by a Lidar sensor combined with an odometer.
Powered by a 56hp (42kW) diesel engine, a hybrid option will be available to allow the machine to feed animals electrically to reduce emissions and noise levels.
According to our Dutch friends at mechaman.nl the Aura operates at a maximum speed of 7.0km/hr around the yard, and 2.0km/hr when feeding. Suitable for feeding up to 280 dairy cows, the Aura, which has an empty weight of 6.2t, is expected to hit the market sometime early 2021.
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