Articles
Multitask robotic rover for agricultural activities (R2A2): a robotic platform for peach orchards
Article number
1352_12
Pages
89 – 96
Language
English
Abstract
This paper describes the latest innovations in agricultural robotics, specifically for weed control, harvesting and monitoring, taking into account the challenges of introducing robotics in this sector, such as fruit detection, orchard navigation, task planning algorithms, or sensors optimization.
One of the trends in precision agriculture is the introduction of swarm robotics, allowing collaboration between robots.
Another trend is in aerial imagery acquisition for ground analysis as well as environmental reconstruction, complemented by field-mounted sensors.
Although robots are becoming quite important in the evolution of agriculture, it is still unlikely that all tasks will be automated in the near future due to the complexity arisen by the overall variability of cultures.
The analysis of the current state of the art allows the proposal of a robotic rover for multipurpose agricultural activities (R2A2), developed to perform particular and controlled spraying, to pick up fallen fruits and to predict fruit production in peach orchards.
These tasks are performed in different period of the campaign, allowing to use the same robotic platform for different activities.
The tasks performed by the robotic platform aim to help increasing productivity, by accurate fruit counting, that allows decision making concerning water requirements and the reduction of herbicide and pesticide applications.
The design and construction of this platform aims to be an additional contribution for the rising of agricultural robotics.
One of the trends in precision agriculture is the introduction of swarm robotics, allowing collaboration between robots.
Another trend is in aerial imagery acquisition for ground analysis as well as environmental reconstruction, complemented by field-mounted sensors.
Although robots are becoming quite important in the evolution of agriculture, it is still unlikely that all tasks will be automated in the near future due to the complexity arisen by the overall variability of cultures.
The analysis of the current state of the art allows the proposal of a robotic rover for multipurpose agricultural activities (R2A2), developed to perform particular and controlled spraying, to pick up fallen fruits and to predict fruit production in peach orchards.
These tasks are performed in different period of the campaign, allowing to use the same robotic platform for different activities.
The tasks performed by the robotic platform aim to help increasing productivity, by accurate fruit counting, that allows decision making concerning water requirements and the reduction of herbicide and pesticide applications.
The design and construction of this platform aims to be an additional contribution for the rising of agricultural robotics.
Publication
Authors
A. Veiros, R. Mesquita, P.D. Gaspar, M.P. Simões
Keywords
agricultural robotics, precision agriculture, fruit detection, weed control, mechanism design, computer vision
Groups involved
Online Articles (87)