Industrial robots have existed since the 1950s, but their abilities and intelligence have constantly advanced with new advances in material, technology, manufacturing and computer science. By taking advantage of the advanced computing, detection and control capabilities that are now within reach, engineers have quickly transformed modern agricultural robots. Part of this transformation includes refining some of the most “intelligent” aspects of agricultural robots, such as the decision -making process, the perception of the advanced control and execution techniques.
Today, there are many types of agricultural robots used in several agricultural processes. Regardless of the agricultural application, many of these robots use similar central technologies; In particular, multiple sensor capacities, advanced visual image processing systems, complex algorithms, stable and mobile platforms and flexible locomotion controls. In this blog, we observe how these technologies allow different agricultural robots to shape the present and the future of intelligent agriculture.
What are agricultural robots?
Let’s start by defining agricultural robots. Agricultural robots are autonomous and semi -autonomous machines designed to perform specific tasks in agricultural and agricultural space. Like many smart robots, they have an advanced perception and autonomous decision -making skills and can execute tasks with high precision, precision and efficiency. While human workers are hindered by fatigue and harsh environmental conditions, agricultural robots are designed to resist the demands of various agricultural environments for prolonged periods of time while maintaining optimal productivity levels.
Since agricultural conditions tend to be complex and variable, these robots need high adaptability, precise navigation and the ability to avoid obstacles effectively to survive. With these central characteristics at the forefront of development, all agricultural robots are built around four key parts:
- Vision System: Capture the data in images using thermal cameras, flight time (TOF), color and depth (RGB-D) and multiple.
- Control system: Attend decision -making and movement planning. Many artificial intelligence (AI) and automatic learning (ML) algorithms are integrating intelligent decision -making capabilities into agricultural robots.
- Mechanical actuators: Vital for the precise operation of external capture tools and appendages that perform specific functions.
- Mobile platform: It allows precise navigation to avoid obstacles while observing its environment and performance. The mobile platform drive system is an electrical, pneumatic or hydraulic system.
Most agricultural robots are located with wheels or caterpillars, but drones and other non -introduced aerial vehicles (UAV) are also an option that depends on the application. Agricultural robots perceive their surroundings using a combination of visual sensors, global navigation satellite system (GNSS), light detection sensors and range sensors (Lidar) and infrared sensors (IR). The combination of different sensors allows agricultural robots to navigate freelancers and detect a wide range of objects and obstacles based on the production of sensors. These robots come in a variety of shapes and sizes, so the number of sensors installed depends on the size of the robot in how many can fit physically, as well as how many and what types are needed to navigate in restricted environments. In addition, agricultural robots can be deployed outside (crop fields) and indoors (greenhouses), so the number and types of sensors required will also vary according to the environment where they work.
One of the most important assets in agricultural robots are their attachments, appendages and final devices, since these pieces allow the robot to physically perform tasks. Without them, all navigation, automation and decision -making capabilities mean nothing, since they would simply move without performing a specific function. The final devices of the robot are synonyms with arms and human fingers and come in many ways, depending on the planned tasks of the robot, and include devices based on fingers, needles, nozzles, robotic arms, scissors and attractors. These different final devices allow the robot to perform a range of grip, cut, union and pressing movements that allow agricultural processes such as collecting, sowing, pulverizing and transplantation.
Production of efficient crops with robotics
The agricultural sector is traditionally based on manual work that is physically demanding and slow. Agricultural robots save in labor and make several agricultural processes more efficient, from collection to the spray of pesticides in large areas of crops, which leads to a better agricultural production. Given the benefits for the agricultural sector, the types of agricultural robots are increasingly expanded and always diversifying as new areas where these robots arise can be designed more efficiently than the status quo.
Taking into account the difference between large -scale agricultural crops management and the most delicate selection requirements for fruits and vegetables, agricultural robots tend to divide into field robots and fruits and vegetable robots. Each crop area requires different design specifications, especially for the design of the appendices, to perform the different tasks.
Field robots
Field robots are mostly autonomous mobile robots (AMR) that perform several crop production tasks. Many robots in the field use wheels to travel, from small robots to completely autonomous tractors and harvesters. The main tasks assigned to field robots are tillage, planting, harvesting, data collection and crop protection.
For example, tillage robots cultivate the land, which is an intensive and repetitive labor task. Labranza robots have already reduced labor needs and have improved the quality and efficiency of the crop. By adding productivity and efficiency, tillage robots have become a well -developed area in the agricultural robot industry, since many are smart robots that play a key role in digital agriculture.
In addition, the sowing of robots sows the fields and sowing with precision the seeds in exact positions each time, saving time and money to the farmers. During this process, the sowing of robots performs soil excavation, seed planting and seed coverage tasks, and some can also add fertilizers and water to the seed. There are several different planting robots, which means another well -developed area of intelligent agriculture.
In another case, crop collection robots add to the digital nature of agriculture. A type of crop collection robot is rice cutting machines, which have existed for many years. Even so, advances in advanced algorithms, such as deep learning, have turned these semi -automatic robots harvesters completely automated in recent years.
Another vital field robot is data collection robots, which collect different types of information in the field to help farmers make “invisible” decisions about their crop field. Robots not only collect a much broader range of data than humans, but do it more efficiently and precisely. The data collected by these robots helps farmers improve their productivity levels and reduce long -term costs, as well as detect diseases and pests in their crops.
Of course, the use of data for productivity will be at all if the crops are not protected, which is where crop protection robots come into play. These are one of the few field robots that mainly use UAV to spray pesticides on crops. UAV offer a precise pesticide treatment through advanced control algorithms, thus reducing potential damage to humans, crop yield and environment.
Fruit and vegetable robots
Together with cultivation fields, agricultural robots can be used in more delicate scenarios to choose, classify and plant fruits and vegetables. The last years have seen many countries fight to meet labor demands to feed the population, which can lead to lower yields and higher consumer prices. Fruit and vegetable robots can increase fruit and vegetable plantation areas without requiring more manual delivery. The main types of robots in this area are robot transplantation, fruit and vegetable patrol robots, pesticide spray and robots robots.
Transplant robots improve precision, stability and transplant performance compared to manual approaches. These robots use advanced control methods and final devices manipulators to sow different plants, and performance is governed by control precision. Meanwhile, fruity and vegetable patrol robots navigate autonomous through interior and exterior farms, collecting information and using their range of detection capabilities. The information acquired is transmitted to farmers to evaluate the maturity of different fruits and vegetables, analyze what environmental parameters could affect the growth process and detect if there are pests that are treated.
Similar to crop protection robots, there are pesticide spray robots for fruits and vegetables, which helps address the same manual problems related to excessive pesticide use. Several pesticide robots have been developed to perform precise spray operations. Ultrasonic sensors, flow control systems and servo -control nozzles are some of the key design aspects for fruity and vegetable pesticides, since they need to be more precise than field crop robots that sprayed in larger areas.
Fruit and vegetable collection robots are automatic machines that can choose mature fruits and vegetables in large scales. The sensors in these robots provide extensive detection capabilities in a range of planting areas to detect mature fruits and vegetables and choose them. Final soft and hard clamp devices are used for collection, which helps to avoid damage to the product. These collection robots can be bulk or selective harvesters depending on what they have programmed to choose from.
Conclusion
The level of autonomy in robots has increased significantly in recent years. Although agricultural robots exist for decades, their capacities have grown exponentially, already measure that advanced AI algorithms and automatic learning become more robust, it is likely that the abilities of different agricultural robots increase even more. This wide range of robots is used in many agricultural production areas, both in large -scale crop fields and in the collection of fruits and vegetables, and has relieved the need for manual labor. With the lack of workers available in some places today and the limits of manual labor, along with a growing need to cultivate more food, agricultural robots are improving production efficiency while guaranteeing a greater degree of security for farmers.
Source: Mouser Blog
