A Review of Current and Historical Research Contributions to the Development of Ground Autonomous Vehicles for Agriculture

Valda Rondelli, Bruno Franceschetti and Dario Mengoli
Additional contact information
Valda Rondelli: Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale G. Fanin 50, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Bruno Franceschetti: Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale G. Fanin 50, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Dario Mengoli: Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering “Guglielmo Marconi”, University of Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 15, 1-16

Abstract: In this study, a comprehensive overview of the available autonomous ground platforms developed by universities and research groups that were specifically designed to handle agricultural tasks was performed. As cost reduction and safety improvements are two of the most critical aspects for farmers, the development of autonomous vehicles can be of major interest, especially for those applications that are lacking in terms of mechanization improvements. This review aimed to provide a literature evaluation of present and historical research contributions toward designing and prototyping agricultural ground unmanned vehicles. The review was motivated by the intent to disseminate to the scientific community the main features of the autonomous tractor named BOPS-1960, which was conceived in the 1960s at the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna (UNIBO). Jointly, the main characteristics of the modern DEDALO unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) for orchard and vineyard operations that was designed recently were evaluated. The basic principles, technology and sensors used in the two UNIBO prototypes are described in detail, together with an analysis of UGVs for agriculture conceived in recent years by research centers all around the world.

Keywords: precision agriculture; UGV; tractor; sensors; unmanned vehicles (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9221/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9221/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:15:p:9221-:d:873431

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().