Agricultural Robot under Solar Panels for Sowing, Pruning, and Harvesting in a Synecoculture Environment

Takuya Otani (), Akira Itoh, Hideki Mizukami, Masatsugu Murakami, Shunya Yoshida, Kota Terae, Taiga Tanaka, Koki Masaya, Shuntaro Aotake, Masatoshi Funabashi and Atsuo Takanishi
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Takuya Otani: Waseda Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
Akira Itoh: Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
Hideki Mizukami: Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
Masatsugu Murakami: Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
Shunya Yoshida: Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
Kota Terae: Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
Taiga Tanaka: Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
Koki Masaya: Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
Shuntaro Aotake: Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
Masatoshi Funabashi: Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc., Tokyo 141-0022, Japan
Atsuo Takanishi: Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-22

Abstract: Currently, an agricultural method called Synecoculture TM has been receiving attention as a means for multiple crop production and recovering from environmental degradation; it helps in regreening the environment and establishing an augmented ecosystem with high biodiversity. In this method, several types of plants are grown densely, and their management relies mainly on manual labor, since conventional agricultural machines and robots cannot be applied in complex vegetation. To improve work efficiency and boost regreening by scaling-up Synecoculture, we developed a robot that can sow, prune, and harvest in dense and diverse vegetation that grows under solar panels, towards the achievement of compatibility between food and energy production on a large scale. We adopted a four-wheel mechanism with sufficient ability to move on uneven terrain, and a two orthogonal axes mechanism with adjusted tool positioning while performing management tasks. In the field experiment, the robot could move straight on shelving slopes and overcome obstacles, such as small steps and weeds, and succeeded in harvesting and weeding with human operation, using the tool maneuver mechanism based on the recognition of the field situation through camera image.

Keywords: agricultural robots; sowing; pruning; harvesting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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