A Mobile Laboratory Robot for Various and Precise Measurements of Crops and Soil in Agricultural Fields: Development and Pilot Study

Shintaro Noda (), Yasunari Miyake, Yuka Nakano, Masayuki Kogoshi, Wataru Iijima and Junichi Nakagawa
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Shintaro Noda: Research Center for Agricultural Robotics, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Tsukuba 305-0856, Japan
Yasunari Miyake: Research Center for Agricultural Robotics, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Tsukuba 305-0856, Japan
Yuka Nakano: Research Center for Agricultural Robotics, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Tsukuba 305-0856, Japan
Masayuki Kogoshi: Research Center for Agricultural Robotics, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Tsukuba 305-0856, Japan
Wataru Iijima: Research Center for Agricultural Robotics, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Tsukuba 305-0856, Japan
Junichi Nakagawa: Research Center for Agricultural Robotics, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Tsukuba 305-0856, Japan

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 7, 1-17

Abstract: Localized management based on multipoint measurements of crops and soil is expected to improve agricultural productivity. The difficulties with this process are as follows: it is time-consuming due to the many measurement points; it requires various sensors for various measurements; it can lead to unstable measurements due to sunlight and wind. To solve the above issues, the system we propose has the advantages of efficient measurements performed by a robot, various measurements performed through exchangeable sensor units, and stable measurements through protecting the crop from sunlight and wind. As a pilot study for the system, we conducted an experiment to simultaneously measure the crops and soil in a cabbage field. The robot achieved mobility in the field, >4 h of operation time, and the ability to obtain soil electrical conductivity measurements and crop imaging at 100 points. Furthermore, the stability of the measurement conditions within the sensor unit during the experiment was evaluated. Compared to the case without the covering, the illuminance became 280-fold stabler (standard deviation = 0.4 lx), and the wind-induced crop shaking became 20-fold lower (root mean square error of the image pixels = 0.5%). The potential impacts of this research include high reproducibility because of the shareable sensor unit and the expectation of new discoveries using precise indoor sensors.

Keywords: agricultural robot; fertilization control; EC sensor; light shielding; wind shielding (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: 2023
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