Ground Impact and Soil Compaction Evaluation for Autonomous Agricultural Machinery

Understanding your machine’s impact on the ground is key to gaining market trust before commercial launch. Before the service: You want to claim your solution protects the soil, but you lack third-party data to prove it. Farmers are increasingly concerned about soil damage caused by heavy equipment or the repeated paths of robotic fleets. After the service, you receive a clear, official third-party report showing exactly how your equipment affects the ground. This allows you to optimise hardware calibration (e.g., dynamic tire pressure adjustment, optimal ballast/weight distribution), confidently validate the right tire or tracks, and reduce energy consumption. For autonomous vehicles, this data is also crucial for training AI navigation algorithms to adjust paths in real-time based on soil conditions.

The service is highly flexible. It can be performed at the INRAE AgroTechnoPôle facilities in Montoldre, France (using controlled soil bins or sand pits), or directly in your own fields. You provide the vehicle. Our team places highly specialised sensors in the ground, and as the machine runs over the test area, we scan and map the resulting tracks to measure the physical impact and model the morphological impact. You will receive a comprehensive performance validation report, visual impact maps, and "Data-Ready" datasets that can be seamlessly integrated into digital twin simulations or AI path-planning models.

Our testing approach is modular to precisely align with your late-stage R&D goals. We can customise: Soil Conditions: Testing on different soil types (eg. clay, sand) and moisture levels to find your machine’s ideal operating window. Machine Setup: Comparing low-pressure tires versus tracks, or testing different weight and payload scenarios. Specific Maneuvers: Analysing the impact of tight U-turns or specific automated trajectories. By tailoring our metrics to your needs, we validate your engineering choices as you strengthen your commercial arguments in response to the market’s agronomic demands. While we typically perform these tests at our state-of-the-art facilities—designed for precise, consistent measurements—we understand that operational or logistical needs may require conducting them on-site at the manufacturer’s premises. In such cases, additional requirements will be needed to ensure everything runs smoothly. Some limitations exist, such as the need for a manufacturer's technical representative to be present during the test and the requirement to provide technical manuals in advance. In addition, conducting the tests during the winter may not be possible, so customers should plan accordingly.