Research project We have done considerable research for automation in forestry, in particular development of unmanned forest vehicles.
Our major contribution was a pilot system for autonomous navigation in forest environment, including algorithms for high-performance path tracking. We had a working solution demonstrated in December 2008, with major contributions by project leader Thomas Hellström and Ola Ringdahl, who also wrote his PhD thesis on the project.
We also worked with simulator-based path planning for both obstacle avoidance and global reactive path planning. We also analyzed visionary views and requirements for forestry automation, and develop methods for simulation of the potential of different machine systems in forestry, including autonomous vehicles.
Links:
http://www8.cs.umu.se/research/ifor/IFORnav/navigation.htm
https://www.umu.se/en/news/ten-tonne-forest-machines-without-drivers_5836403/
