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Application of robotics in changing the future of agriculture

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Journal of Eco-friendly Agriculture 17(1): 48-51. 2022 of robotics in changing the future of agriculture ISSN : 2229-628X (print)
doi: 10.5958/2582-2683.2022.00010.7 e-ISSN : 2582-2683 (online)

Application of robotics in changing the future of agriculture

Abhijit Khadatkar1,*, C.R. Mehta1 and C.P. Sawant1
1
ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal-462038
(* Corresponding author: [email protected])
ABSTRACT

Agricultural production system has witnessed drastic changes in the last few decades with advancements in
robotics and artificial intelligence based technologies. Scarcity of labour during peak cropping sea son has also
highlighted the need for an alternative option for safe and sustainable agricultural system using IoT, machine learning
and robotics for carrying out agricultural operations. Augmented use of electronics and computer application has
made the working of robotic system possible for various field operations viz. transplanting, harvesting, and interculture,
etc. for agricultural as well as horticultural crops. These technologies can be integrated with vision based system and
GPS for more precise application. Robotic transplanter for transplanting plug-type seedlings may be a good option for
future agriculture. It can use robotic arm, manipulator and an end-effector to perform the operation by using
computer vision and motion planning algorithm or an artificial intelligence system. The application of robotics will
help in various field operations for movement, localization, capturing, targeting and moving to the next target using
drones for addressing spatial as well as temporal management of crops. Same operation can be used in spraying,
weeding as well as harvesting of fruits. However, the robotic technology seems to be at nascent stage and there is a
need to adopt these technologies due to non-availability of labour and their higher wages and to ensure timeless in
field operations. Although many research attempts have been made for development of robots for agriculture
application, more research should be focused towards the development of next generation robots for difficult and
labourious farm operations.
Keywords: Agricultural Robotics; IoT; Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning, Precision Agriculture

Agriculture is the backbone of our country and we need and disease using vision-based systems. Drones (UAV) have
food for our survival. Conventional agricultural equipment been extensively used for crop health monitoring and for
and practices require large number of labour. The agriculture spraying operation. Table 1 gives a brief summary of research
sector should focus on all possible directions including attempts carried out on application of robotics in the
current agricultural practices and technology as well as agriculture sector. Though, most of the developed
modern equipment like agricultural robots so that proper technologies are in proto-type stage, which needs prime
care will be taken for sustainable agricultural production concern for its research and development to bring these
without compromising safety of farmers and agricultural technologies at farmers’ field in order to achieve sustainable
labour. The application of robotics in agricultural operations agricultural production with minimal manpower.
is being attempted for transplanting, weeding, spraying,
Since limited work has been done on robotics
harvesting, etc. Many agri-robots have been developed in
application in agriculture and only a few successful
developed countries whereas research has initiated in some
technologies have been developed, this article emphasizes
developing countries like India. A few researchers have
on the available robotic systems for various farm operations
carried out research in crop mapping, identification of fruits
either in the field crop or horticulture. A brief details of these
Table 1. Studies carried out on the application of robotics technologies for undertaking various agricultural operations
in agriculture (Bechar and Vigneault, 2016) have been discussed in the present paper.
Agricultural Crops Research
Transplanting
operation attempts
Harvesting Apples, citrus, strawberry, melons, etc. 302 Manual vegetable transplanting of plug seedlings is
Transplanting and Tomato, chilli, eggplant, etc. 255
seeding
the most time intensive and laborious work (Khadatkar et
Plant protection Field crops 326 al., 2018). Robotic transplanter may be a solution for the
and weed control operation it not only saves time but also requires less labour.
Grasping of fruits Apples, strawberry, tomato, capsicum, 125 The robotic transplanters use computer graphics or machine
and vegetables etc. vision system for simulating transplanting operation (Kim
Navigation and - 700
mapping
et al., 1995; Ryu et al., 2001; Choi et al., 2002; Khadatkar et al.,
Multi-robot - 60 2018). They consist of a robotic arm for seedling pick-up, a
interaction path manipulator and an end-effector (Kang et al., 2012; Ma

48
©2022 Journal of Eco-friendly Agriculture 17(1) 2022
doi: 10.5958/2582-2683.2022.00010.7
 Abhijit Khadatkar, C.R. Mehta and C.P. Sawant

et al., 2013; Mao et al., 2014; Han et al., 2015; Xin et al., 2018; can be employed for other activities, hence increases the crop
Han et al., 2019). An intelligent transplanting system (Fig. 1) yield, agricultural profitability and economic survival
consists of 5 bar picking mechanism with fixed gear train, (Zaidner and Shapiro, 2016).
the seedling tray conveying mechanism, the planting
mechanism, the seedling detection system using PLC (Xin et Harvesting
al., 2018). The PLC is used to control transmission and detect Fruit selection as well as detachment is one of the
the void cell of seedling tray. By using robotic transplanter essential tasks for efficient harvesting. Most of the robotic
for transplanting seedlings of vegetables and crops, it will harvester have been developed for fruits like apple, citrus
assure precision with safe and comfortable operation. (Fig. 5 & Fig. 6), cherries, strawberries, etc. (De-An et al., 2011;
Interculture Silwal et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2019; Amatya et al., 2016; Zion
et al., 2014). However, some harvesters for crops grown in
Intercultural operation such as weeding is done to kill greenhouse such as tomatoes, capsicum, etc. were also
the weeds by mechanical weeders or chemical spraying. developed. The harvesting of fruits is accomplished by
Manual hand weeding in field crop is considered as the grasping the fruit with grippers and then detaching it on the
most drudgerious farm operation and demands huge basis of shape, size, colour and texture.
manual labour. Weeding by herbicides not only involves
high input costs but also degrade the environment and hence Aerial robot or drones
the overall productivity. Robotic weeding may offer a Aerial robot universally known as drone or unmanned
potential alternative for conventional weeding practices aerial vehicle (UAV) is the new way to perform agricultural
using hand tools. Also, due to the strict protocols and operations viz. crop mapping, scouting, spraying, etc during
restriction on the use of herbicides, robotic weeding offers shortage of labour and precise management of agricultural
the best alternative to manual weeding. Robotic weeder uses inputs viz. chemicals, fertilizer, etc. UAVs, drones and radio-
vision-based systems for weed detection, guiding weeder controlled model aircraft can be flown at lower altitudes to
and uprooting weeds mechanically (Melander et al., 2015; increase spatial resolution possibly at lower cost (Hunt et
Meng et al., 2015; Midti by et al., 2016). Co-robots (Fig. 2) al., 2005). The advantage of UAV platform for agricultural
developed by US National Science Foundation can work as management over conventional satellite imagery are very
human partner as a co-worker to perform a task jointly with high pixels resolution, independent of cloud cover factors
ease (Perez-Ruiz et al., 2014). Gonzalez-de-Soto et al. (2016) during critical periods of growth and instant information
developed a robotic patch spraying system for precision communication (Sinha, 2020; Fig. 7). Images acquired from
application of herbicide (Fig. 3). UAV are used for determining utilization of shrub in
vineyard management, mapping grass species, measuring
Spraying
shrub biomass, mapping crop vigour (Primicerio et al. 2012).
During spraying of agro-chemicals, contamination is Apart from these, vegetation mapping of rangeland (Laliberte
the major problem which may cause threat to human health, and Rango 2009), patches of weed detection (Hardin et al.
if proper protection is not taken. Robotic sprayers are being 2007), crop water stress monitoring, crop biomass recording
developed and extensively used in orchards like apples, (Hunt et al. 2005, Swain et al. 2010), and evaluating nitrogen
grapevine, cherries, etc. and to some extent in greenhouses. treatments on crops (Hunt et al. 2005, Swain et al. 2010) are
These sprayers are developed for target oriented application the other uses. UAV can also be used as geo-fencing to fend
and to enhance input use efficiency. Oberti et al. (2016) stated off animals’ attacks by alerting the owner. Thakur (2016)
that “In current farming practice, pesticides are typically reported reduction in cost of production by 25-30% by early
applied uniformly across fields, despite many pests and detection of pest and efficient spraying by using drones in
diseases exhibiting uneven spatial distributions and Chhattisgarh state of India. The aerial robot based spraying
evolving around discrete foci”. The amount of agrochemicals system enables farmers to apply protectants in time and safely.
used in precision horticulture can be reduced by effective
site-specific application of pesticide (Maghsoudi et al., 2015). Limitations in use of robots
The recently developed automatic variable-rate sprayers The viability of agrobots for a wide range of agricultural
requires an accuracy in measurement of location, canopy applications has been evaluated extensively but the
size and application of adequate amount of agro-chemicals commercial applications of robots in field conditions are yet
to reduce environmental losses and save inputs (Jeon et al., to be available. Field applications of robotics are still in the
2011; Escolà et al., 2013; Gil et al., 2013). An autonomous nascent stage due to some of the limitations as mentioned
system (Fig. 4) can also reduce labour requirement which below.

Journal of Eco-friendly Agriculture 17(1) 2022 49

doi: 10.5958/2582-2683.2022.00010.7
 Application of robotics in changing the future of agriculture

1) The algorithms based on AI for sensing, mapping as CONCLUSION

well as controlling need to be work under tough,
unstructured and dynamic field conditions. Application of robotics technology in agriculture needs
to be adopted and to ensure timely field operations due to
2) The time bound activity of agriculture makes it higher labour wages.
challenging to attain the high level of utilization as it is
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Journal of Eco-friendly Agriculture 17(1) 2022 51

doi: 10.5958/2582-2683.2022.00010.7
 Fig. 1. Robotic transplanter with Fig. 2. Automatic intra-row Fig. 3. Robotised patch sprayer
intelligent system (Xin et al., mechanical weeding co-robot (Gonzalez-de-Soto et al., 2016)
2018) (Perez-Ruiz et al., 2014)

Fig. 4. Autonomous system for Fig. 5. Citrus harvesting robot Fig. 6. Robotic harvester for apples
vineyard spraying (Zaidner and (Wang et al., 2019) (Silwal et al., 2017)
Shapiro 2016)

Fig 7. Spraying of chemicals using UAV in (a) Paddy, (b) Tea and (c) Banana field by UAV (Sinha, 2020)

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