Multi-Purpose Mobile Robot for Precision Farming

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The purpose of the study is to develop automation system for agricultural production. We aim to build technology of an agricultural mobile robot, which is able to conduct agricultural work in the same quality with a skilled worker. The developed robot can travel alone in a field, and automatically acquire the field environmental information related to soil and crop during the travel. The results obtained in the research project are follows :1)Design and Fabrication of Model VehicleThe model vehicle, which was satisfied with requirements for utilizing a mobile robot, was developed. The specifications and basic performance were studied.2)Development of Navigation System Using a Geomagnetic Direction Sensor (GDS)To precisely control the robot using only orientation data obtained by the GDS,the navigation system using the GDS was developed. The refining method, which was able to compensate the geomagnetic warp surrounding the robot, was built using an Artificial Neural Network.3)Developmen … More t of Navigation System Using a Positioning System Based on Machine VisionThe positioning system based on machine vision was developed to know the robot position in real time. The measurement principle is triangulation by setting the two vision sensors on the field that can automatically track the robot movement and measure the angle from the base line of the field. The navigation system using the positioning system and the GDS was build, and the robot performance was investigated by field tests.4)Sensor Development of Corn Resistance and Crop GrowthThe sensor system, which could automatically measure corn resistance, was developed to evaluate soil compaction of a field by the robot. Because the sensor system attached on the mobile robot can acquire the corn resistance and the position at the same time, the spatial map of the corn resistance can be created, and the soil compaction of the field can be evaluated on a computer screen. In addition, to evaluate the crop growth variability on a field, a crop growth sensor based on machine vision was developed. The sensor can segment crop and weed areas using a Fuzzy Logic created by a Genetic Algorithm. Then, the sensor can individually predict the crop growth such as the height and the width.5)Development of Communication SystemTo utilize the field information such as corn resistance and crop growth for crop management, the communication system between the mobile robot and the base station was built. Less