Development of an agricultural mobile robot for use in precision agriculture

Abstract

Precision Agriculture and agricultural practices which take into account environment protection leads to several research challenges. Sampling scale and the precision required by these new agricultural practices are often higher than those required by traditional agriculture, raising the costs of production. This whole process requests an expressive number of researches in developing automation instruments. Among them, highlights the use of remote sensing techniques based on the use of On-the-Go sensors technology, coupled to a Geographic Information System (GIS) adapted and developed for agricultural use. Aiming this, the application of Agricultural Mobile Robots is a strong tendency, mainly in the European Union, USA and Japan. In Brazil, researches are necessary for the development of robotics platforms, serving as a basis for semi-autonomous and autonomous navigation systems, facilitating data acquisition in the field. The aim of this work is to describe the project of an experimental platform for data acquisition and for the development of autonomous vehicles technologies to operate in agricultural environments. The proposal is based on a systematization of scientific work containing the main methodologies and technologies employed in agricultural vehicles and robots, which were used as a basis for construction of the presented model. The platform shall allow acquisition of field data to study the spatial variability through sensors and equipment that will be loaded in the structure.