Saturday
05Aug
John Deere prototype walking tractor
This is a pretty interesting video. I can't completely confirm whether this is a John Deere product (although it has the trademark Deer green color scheme). The applications of a machine like this are endless (military, agriculture, construction, etc).
Update: Tom has provided some useful background on what this machine may be:
It's an environmentally friendly timber harvester designed by Plustech Oy. It's a former winner of the European IST Prize. It can climb steep slopes, an minimizes impact on the soils in the area - whereas wheeled or tracked harvesters can wreak havoc on the ground, esp. when muddy (I used to work as an archaeologist at a national forest, I particularly like this aspect of the vehicle, I've seen ruts from other harvesters and skidders up to two feet, that really impacts cultural resources). I got the chance to see it demoed in person at Mississippi State University (lot of timber farming down there) a few years back.Thanks, Tom!Plustech Oy is indeed a John Deere subsidary in Finland. Their website seems to be down right now, but this used to be their website about the walker. More here, here, here and here.
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Michael Castellon
Reader Comments (32)
lol
its kinda slow. and looks like a bug why would u want to farm in a woods? longer video please wiht it actually doing (insert what farmers and john deere tractors do here)
thanks
weird...
Funny thing about tractors. They arent that fast to begin with. So its not terrible. And im sure that this is simply a demo to show that it can be used in various terrains, so flat farm land is the least of your problems.
Just my guess.
lawl
does anyone have the product specifications or product info url on the John Deere website for this?
Looks like it would be used in logging operations where wheeled "skidders" destroy the new growth and seedlings.
Yes logging is a type of farming when it's done right. And the Deere company has been making skidders for a long time. Very GREEN, and not just in the John Deere way!
I don't see a thing. Must be some fancy web programming. What's wrong with a simple picture?
Thunderbirds are go!
Wow, that's slow, but cool!
We have a John Deere manufacturing plant here in town in Iowa, big fan of them :) They pay all our city taxes! ^_^
There was actually a brief mention of this on a History Channel, Mega Machines . I don't have any episode numbers of anything, but it was in regards to logging operations. The 6 legs distribute the weight to reduce it significantly enough to provide no "relative" impact to the surrounding environment. It's pretty cool, except for the noise and pollution is creates.
for info ... this is a video from 2002
This is part of the Star Wars exhibit in the COSI science museum in Columbus Ohio.
Wildly inaccurate. This is not John Deere, and it's not a tractor. It's a logging device used for selective (vs. clear cut) logging in places where roads don't reach.
i am buying one and putting twin .50s on it
I'd hate to get stuck in traffic behind it. Pretty neat though. I wonder if grasshoppers get turned on by looking at it.
this video is like 5 years old.
this is not a John Deere tractor. this is a logging machine used in Scandinavia.
it an environmentally forestry machine. It is not a tractor, its a way to move through forest without leaving giant tracks everywhere.
Yes, its several years old.
I'm pretty sure that's a piece of logging equipment, not farming equipment and it's been around for quite a while.
Looks like a Giant BUG of sorts... Doesn't move very fast either... hehe
I couldn't see it used for the military as is because the cab is not protected at all... Possibly rescue operations in the deep woods or down a mountain side...
Am I really the first to see a resemblance with an ant.
As the saying goes, you gotta start somewhere. Let's give this to the Japanese so they can make the first Tachikoma ;)
its a logging device. def not john deer. the above posters are right, this is not terribly new.
So that's what tachikomas evolved from.
It isn't really computer generated? :)