Robust robot location and behaviors for on-farm navigation.

英国种植者获得收获田间蔬菜所需的大量季节性（75，000多人）劳动力的能力受到Covid-19，Brexit和欧洲各地移民工人可用性下降的严重影响。这已经成为一个全国性的危机，威胁英国粮食系统的弹性比任何其他单一的挑战（11）。根据全国农民联盟（NFU）的一份报告，英国农业正面临着严重的劳动力短缺。由于采摘工、包装工和其他来自海外的季节性工人短缺，今年夏天英国多达四分之一的水果和蔬菜作物可能会在田间腐烂。根据《农民周刊》于二零二二年十月十三日刊发的报告，受新型冠状病毒疫情及英国退欧影响，英国农业劳工短缺情况恶化，二零二二年收成季节性工人严重短缺。这导致收获延迟和产量减少，导致英国超市蔬菜短缺（14，15）。英国农业危机：由于劳动力短缺，四分之一的水果和蔬菜有腐烂在田地里的风险，"（16）**“前所未有的劳动力短缺使数百吨农产品腐烂在田地里”**《金融时报》（17，18），**“劳动力供应非常紧张\[...\]我们本来可以[用更多的工人]做更多的工作。阅读，斯台普斯蔬菜英国）** 泥泞的机器人（MM）的农业机器人，Sunday，是一个轻量级的（不压实土壤），电池供电（可持续）的机器人，有选择地收获蔬菜在外地。在这个耗资99.95万英镑、为期36个月的项目中，MM和JGHC农场将展示一个强大的农场机器人定位和导航系统，该系统可以安全地进行收获，而无需不切实际地依赖RTK-GPS。** 这将通过创新优化几种独立的技术来实现，并为农场导航提供安全而有效的收获执行行为。该项目将为我们的芽苗菜群在更多样化的生长环境中开辟新的可能市场。

English Growers' ability to obtain the large seasonal (75,000+ strong)(9) workforce needed to harvest field vegetables has been severely impacted by Covid-19, Brexit and declining migrant worker availability across Europe(10). This has become a national crisis that threatens the UK food system's resilience more than any other single challenge(11).According to a report by the National Farmers' Union (NFU), UK farming is facing a significant labour shortage. Up to a quarter of the UK's fruit and vegetable crops could be left to rot in the fields this summer due to a shortage of pickers, packers, and other seasonal workers from overseas(12). The reported crop losses have doubled since 2020(13).According to a report by Farmers Weekly, published on October 13, 2022, labour shortages in the UK farming sector have worsened due to COVID-19 and Brexit, with a significant shortfall of seasonal workers for the 2022 harvest. This has led to delays in harvesting and reduced yields, which has resulted in a shortage of vegetables in UK supermarkets(14,15)."UK farming crisis: quarter of fruit and vegetables at risk of rotting in fields as labour shortage hits,"(16)**"Unprecedented labour shortages have left hundreds of tonnes of produce rotting in the fields"** Financial Times(17,18),**"Labour availability is very tight \[...\] we could have done extra volume \[with more workers\]" (G. Read, Staples Vegetables UK)**Muddy Machines (MM)'s agri-robot, Sprout, is a lightweight (doesn't compact soil), battery-operated (sustainable) robot that selectively harvests vegetables in-field. It has already been demonstrated to selectively harvest asparagus in-field effectively.In this £999.5k, 36-month project, MM and JGHC farms will demonstrate a robust on-farm robotic localisation and navigation system allowing safe harvest execution without unrealistic reliance on RTK-GPS. **This will be achieved through the innovative optimisation of several independent techniques, and safe yet harvest-executing behaviours for on-farm navigation.**This project will open new possible markets for our herd of Sprouts in more varied growing environments.