The All Terrain Platform standard design combination and related specifications provide our customers with a versatile and cost effective package that utilises technologies yet unavailable on other machines. ATP machines comply with relevant standards such as AS / NZS1418.10. The design team is able to customise to your requirements.
Harvesting fruit others can’t reach
Posted: 7:00pm Sunday 17 Jul, 2016
Safely going where no machines have gone before – and harvesting avocados previously left unpicked is – what All Terrain Platforms, designed and produced in Katikati, are doing in orchards in New Zealand and Australia.
It’s now four years since Don Rust and the team at Mural Town Engineering produced and demonstrated the first ATP able to operate on slopes of up to 25 degrees, while keeping the operator on the level at all times.
Since then the safety and versatility of the machines has seen them bought by contractors and orchardists on both sides of the Tasman.
Construction and painting companies are using ATPs to access to buildings without the need of scaffolding.
Read more here
A busy start to the new year with a likely record setting season!
Feb 2017 Daniel Birnie AVOCADO MANAGER
The Safer Avocado Picker
2 Feb 2011
There are two problems that most avocado growers have when going out into the field to pick their product: safety issues and access. Don Rust has created a platform called the ATP (All Terrain Platform), which will hopefully eliminate both problems. According to Bay of Plenty Times, his invention is off to a good start.
It was the industry’s concern about how to safely and effectively harvest fruit from trees which can grow up to 8m that led Don to seek a solution.
His answer, a machine which looks like something out of science fiction, had its first public outing at the January Katikati Avocado Food and Wine Festival.
There it was displayed with opposing wheels mounted on large blocks of timber, tilting the axles to around 15° while the platform remained level, graphically illustrating the machine’s self-levelling ability despite an uneven terrain.
Michael Darling of AvoWorks, a company which contract picks avocados, worked closely with Don on the design of the ATP giving him information on orchard conditions and the needs of pickers operating the equipment.
“There is nothing else quite like it available and it should overcome some of the safety issues we have within the industry,” he said.
Two exciting avocado innovations
21 Jan, 2011 9:02am
Bay of Plenty Times By: by Elaine Fisher
A new self-levelling all-terrain avocado-picking platform and ultra-high pressure treated guacamole were among the more unusual exhibits at Saturday's Katikati Avocado Food and Wine Festival.
The impressive-looking prototype of the ATP (All Terrain Platform), invented and manufactured by Don Rust of Mural Town Engineering for picking avocados in orchards with ground contours too challenging for most equipment, had its first public showing at the event on the Just Avocado and AvoWorks stand.
The self-levelling platform with a reach of 8.5 metres and the ability to be driven over uneven terrain, has been developed with funding from TechNZ, and Mr Rust has plans to begin production in Katikati soon.
Read the article here
