Authors:
Mark A. Post
;
Alessandro Bianco
and
Xiu T. Yan
Affiliation:
University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom
Keyword(s):
Field Robotics, Navigation, Agriculture, ROS.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics
;
Mechatronics Systems
;
Mobile Robots and Autonomous Systems
;
Robot Design, Development and Control
;
Robotics and Automation
Abstract:
Autonomous monitoring of agricultural farms and fields has recently become feasible due to continuing advances
in robotics technology, but many notable challenges remain. In this paper, we describe the state of
ongoing work to create a fully autonomous ground rover platform for monitoring and intervention tasks on
modern farms that is built using inexpensive and off the shelf hardware and Robot Operating System (ROS)
software so as to be affordable to farmers. The hardware and software architectures used in this rover are
described along with challenges and solutions in odometry and localization, object recognition and mapping,
and path planning algorithms under the constraints of the current hardware. Results obtained from laboratory
and field testing show both the key challenges to be overcome, and the current successes in applying a low-cost
rover platform to the task of autonomously navigating the outdoor farming environment.