Development and Field Performance Evaluation of a Semi-Automatic System for Driving Orchard Support Posts

This paper presents the development and field evaluation of the Horty AutoHammer system for semi-automatic driving of orchard support posts, integrating a mobile carrier, post handling mechanisms, a pile-driving mast, a positioning system and multi-actuator control. The system is semi-automatic: post handling on the conveyor is performed by the operator, the driving sequence runs automatically, and an obligatory operator confirmation of position and angles precedes driving, so the results characterize the operator–machine system. Acceptance testing was conducted at four locations in the Masovian Voivodeship. A balanced experiment comprised 120 work cycles (4 locations × 2 process variants × 15 replicates), the variants differing in post type and target depth. Process variant significantly affected complete cycle time and productivity (p < 0.001); location and the interaction did not (p > 0.05). The end-post cycle was on average 5.91 s longer and depth error did not differ between variants (p = 0.106). All observations met the ±3 cm driving-depth criterion as recorded by the machine’s own measuring chain, with a maximum absolute error of 2.6 cm, and mean productivity exceeded 20 posts·h−1. Driving depth was not verified independently of that chain and the horizontal position of the posts was not quantified; both are to be addressed separately.