Development of Smart Viticulture System Using Autonomous Robots

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This research aims at developing a smart viticulture system through the use of autonomous robots and AI. Smart viticulture aims at reducing the burden of farmers by automating tasks like vineyard monitoring, inspection, yield estimation, and harvesting of grapes.In FY2022, the accuracy of the monitoring system developed in previous FY was improved through the use of Deep Learning based landmark detection. The previously developed system relied on landmark (pillar) detection based on color, which caused inaccuracies during the change of illumination conditions and rain. A convolutional neural network based model was trained and evaluated to be robust against dynamic changes in the environment and gave better estimation of the landmarks. This improved the overall SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) module which was developed without the use of GPS, and relies on local-only features for cost-cutting. In Addition, a deep learning CNN model was developed for detecting grapes/branches and their conditions (ripe, almost-ripe, raw). A weed detection model has been developed. The harvesting module is developed in simulator and a real-world manufacturing and test is planned for FY2023. Algorithms for robot navigation in structured vineyard environment, obstacle avoidance, alarm system, multi-robot cooperation algorithms for vineyard, have also been developed and results have been published in conferences.