Compost turner provides fertile ground for doctorate

Eva Reitbauer is working on automatic positioning and navigation. Baustaedter - TU Graz - Eva Reitbauer plots paths for autonomous compost turners as they move through compost heaps. A doctoral candidate from the Institute of Geodesy at TU Graz, she specialises in positioning and navigation. A compost turner - does that mean anything to you? No? Well don't worry, you're probably not the only one! But when Eva Reitbauer starts talking about this particular piece of equipment, you'll find it very interesting. She knew next to nothing about the composting process to begin with, but now, after several years of work, the TU Graz researcher is not only an expert in navigating autonomous agricultural machinery, she's also fascinated by it. Eva and her colleagues are responsible for enabling compost turners to move independently between compost heaps - sometimes also referred to as clamps - and turn the composting material. Compost turners play a vital role in commercial composting.