Agricultural Robotics

1. Introduction
 Agriculture is humankind’s oldest and still its most important
economic activity, providing the food, feed, fiber, and fuel
necessary for our survival.
 With the global population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050,
agricultural production must double if it is to meet the increasing
demands for food and bioenergy.
 Given limited land, water and labor resources, it is estimated that
the efficiency of agricultural productivity must increase by 25% to
meet that goal, while limiting the growing pressure that agriculture
puts on the environment.
Then HOW TO REACH THAT GOAL??
YES. The answer to this question is to introduce The robotics and
automation technology in AGRICULTURE.
 Robotics and automation can play a significant role in society
meeting 2050 agricultural production needs.
 From last six decades robots have played a fundamental role in
increasing the efficiency and reducing the cost of industrial
production and products.
 In the past twenty years, a similar trend has started to take place in
agriculture, with GPS- and vision-based self-guided tractors and
harvesters already being available commercially.
 More recently, farmers have started to experiment with
autonomous systems that automate or augment operations such as
pruning, thinning, and harvesting, as well as mowing, spraying,
and weed removal.

2. A view of Traditional Agriculture:
Seeding Pesticiding
Croping
What are the disadvantages of traditional agriculture
system??
 Huge amount of Manual power.
 Time.
 Less efficient.
 Less production and many more..

3. To overcome from these advantages we introduced The
robotics and automation technology in AGRICULTURE.
What is the actual meaning of The robotics and automation
technology in AGRICULTURE?
 It’s a technology introduced to increase the efficiency interms of
production and to reduce the time and the manual power by
using some systems which can be operated automatically (no
need of manual operation).
Advantages:
 The Robo does not get sick or tired and does not need time off.
 It can operate with closer tolerances (so every round is at full
field capacity), Fewer errors and at higher speeds
 Because machines can be made lighter and cheaper if the
drivers seat, controls and cab can be eliminated.
 It can be used in various fields like agriculture, medicine,
mining, and space
research .
 It can be sent to another planet to study their environmental
conditions.
 The machines could easily work around trees, rocks, ponds and
other obstacles.
 Small suburban fields could be worked almost as efficiently as
large tracts of land.

4. GOALS AND PURPOSES:
 To provide access to hazard environment.
 Reduced operating costs due to lower cost of employing
robots.
 Higher overall availability of robot workers (no lunch
breaks or vacations)
and many more.
 To complete large amount of work in less time.

5. Literature Survey
 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Technical
Committee on Agricultural Robotics and Automation By
Marcel Bergerman, Eldert van Henten, John Billingsley,
John Reid, and Deng Mingcong
-June 2013
 Agricultural Robotics
By John Billingsley, University of Southern Queensland;
Denny Oetomo University of Melbourne; and John Reid,
John Deere
-December 2009
 IEEE spectrum.

6. Traditional Agriculture Vs Agricultural Robotics:

7. Agricultural Robotics
Field Robots Mobile Robots
 Field Robots:
Field robots work with respect to environment and
medium. They change themselves according to the
required condition.
 Mobile Robots:
Mobile robots are those which posses mobility withrespect
a medium. The entire system moves with respect to
environment.
TYPES OF ROBOTS USED IN AGRICULTURE:
 Fruit picking robot.
 Drones
 Robot for weed control.
 Forester robot.
 Robot in horticulture.
 Demeter (used for harvesting).
 Micro-flying robot.

8. Fruit Picking Robot
 The principles of fruit picking robots have been developed since
the early 1980's. These principles have opened up new
approaches to the harvesting of crops.
 To start with, the fruit picking robots need to pick ripe fruit
without damaging the branches or leaves of the tree. Mobility is
a priority, and the robots must be able to access all areas of the
tree being harvested.
 It goes then without saying that the robots must be intelligent,
and have a human-like interaction with their surroundings
through senses of touch, sight, and image processing.
 The robot can distinguish between fruit and leaves by using
video image capturing.

9.  The camera is mounted on the robot arm, and the colours
detected are compared with properties stored in memory.
 If a match is obtained, the fruit is picked. If fruit is hidden by
leaves, an air jet can be used to blow leaves out the way so a
clearer view and access can be obtained.
 The robot arm itself is coated in rubber to minimize any damage
to the tree. It has 5degrees of freedom, allowing it to move, in,
out, up, down, and in cylindrical and spherical motion patterns.
 The pressure applied to the fruit is sufficient for removal from
the tree, but not enough to crush the fruit. This is accomplished
by a feedback process from the gripper mechanism, which is
driven by motors, hydraulics, or a pneumatic system.
 The shape of the gripper depends on the fruit being picked, as
some fruits, such as plums, crush very easily, while others, like
oranges are not so susceptible to bruising.
 The robots should have access to all areas of the orchard in
order to reach all of the fruit.

10. Forest Robot:
 This is a special type of robot used for cutting up of wood,
tending trees, and pruning of X- mas tree and for harvesting
pulp and hard wood and in the forests.
 It employs a special jaws and axes for chopping the branch. The
forester robot with six legged moves in the forest.
 The picture shows the robot moving wood out of the forest. The
leg coordination is automated but still the navigation is done by
the human operator on the robot.

11. Drones In Farms
 Using drones for crop surveillance can drastically increase farm
crop yields while minimizing the cost of walking the fields or
airplane fly-over filming.
 Using Precision Vision™ Crop Health Imaging system, you can
view composite video showing the health of your crops.

12. The Benefits of Drones in Farming
 Increase Yields
o Find potentially yield limiting problems in a timely
fashion.
 Save Time
o While all farmers know the value of scouting their crops
few actually have time to cover the acres on foot.
 Return on Investment
o At an average of $2 per acre for a walking visual
inspection or an aerial survey to take an image of crop
fields, the ROI on the purchase of an aerial helicopter
drone can be met quickly. In most operations, the ROI for
our drones can be achieved in a crop season or less,
leaving you owning a drone that reduces your operating
costs and improves your crop yield by giving you the
timely information you need for quick management
intervention.
 Ease of use
o UAV products can be very complex to set-up and operate,
but with our preset standards we allow new operators to
have confidence in operating from the beginning.
 Integrated GIS mapping
o Draw field borders for flight pattern
 Crop Health Imaging
o Seeing the true health of your field in a color contrast
allows you to see how much sunlight is being absorbed by
the crop canopy.
 Failsafe - The Drone Flies Home
o As an added safety net with the flip of switch your
Precision Drone will return to its original takeoff location

13. Swarm Robotics-Robobees:
 'Swarm robotics' is a growing industry being put to use in
creative ways. The concept has been around for decades, but
groups of small robots working in teams to complete tasks has
come in handy on the conservation and agricultural front.
 Researchers are looking for ways to include robot swarms in
agriculture as well. Swarms are able to identify weeds and
administer chemicals using less herbicide to do so.
 Researchers are looking for ways to include robot swarms in
agriculture as well. Swarms are able to identify weeds and
administer chemicals using less herbicide to do so.
 One famous example of swarm robotics was a project out of Harvard
University involving "Robobees." The "robobees" were used "to find an
artificial solution to pollination to address the current decline in the
global bee population."

14. Few More Interesting Robots in Agriculture:
ROSPHERE
LADY BIRD