AGROBOT DESIGNED AS PLANT
WATERING SYSTEM AND SPRAYING
LIQUID TYPE PESTICIDES
ABSTRACT
In recent years, the development of autonomous vehicles in
agriculture has experienced increased interest. This development has led
many researchers to start developing more rational and adaptable
vehicles. In the field of agricultural autonomous vehicles, a concept is
being developed to investigate if multiple small autonomous machines
would be more efficient than traditional large tractors. These vehicles
should be capable of working 24 hours a day all year round, in most
weather conditions and have the intelligence embedded within them to
behave sensibly in a semi-natural environment over long periods of time,
unattended, while carrying out a useful task.
In this project work an engineering solution to the current human
health is achieved which avoids human involvement while spraying toxic
chemicals in the agricultural fields. This is achieved by the design and
construction of an autonomously operated mobile robot for use in pest
control
and
disease
prevention
applications
in
commercial
greenhouses/agricultural fields. The automatic pesticide sprayer is
designed for various applications. With the auto control we can send the
sprayer to various farms where spraying by humans is much difficult and
also is very fast and accurate than mankind. It can spray pesticide to the
root of field and save the greenery from the attack of pests, insects and
rats etc.
Moreover, such a system may have less environmental impact if it
can reduce over application of chemicals and high usage of energy, such
as diesel and fertilizer, by control that is better matched to stochastic
requirements. There are a number of field operations that can be executed
by autonomous vehicles, giving more benefits than conventional machines.
These autonomous platforms would be used for cultivation and seeding,
weeding, scouting, application of fertilizers and chemicals, irrigation and
harvesting, etc.
Now here is a module designed for watering and spraying
pesticides to the plants. For bigger plants like coconut, mango, etc., the
total field need not be watered. Instead watering should be done where the
particular plant is present. So our vehicle is equipped with a water tank and
pesticide tank which identifies where the plant is present, waters it and
automatically sprays the pesticide as well depending on the requirement.
Whenever the water tank is empty the agrobot comes to the home position
by itself for refilling the tank. Such types of agricultural robots that can take
self-decisions are called as autonomous agrobots. Here we present a
proto-type model of such robot, which does the above-mentioned things
without any manual help. Two small liquid pumping motors are used for
watering the plants and spraying the liquid pesticide fiercely. The
autonomous Agrobot movement is produced by the reduction gear box
mechanism DC motor that is controlled by the micro controller. The motors
used in the module are driven through relays that are interfaced with the
micro controller.