Robot Handles Planting, Crop Monitoring

Robot Handles Planting Crop Monitoring PLANTING EQUIPMENT Planters University of Nebraska-Lincoln scientists and engineers have teamed up to build an automated planting and crop monitoring system The flexible robot known as Flex-Ro is a 60-hp high-clearance field platform with 4-wheel steering and 4-WD It’s gas-powered and can be operated with a wireless remote or in an autonomous mode by providing GPS points “Flex-Ro is a research project that began as part of my agricultural robotic research program in 2016 ” says Santosh Pitla Ph D associate professor of advanced machinery systems “Our goal back then was to create a multi-purpose autonomous robotic platform to perform different field operations Fast forward to 2023 and we realized our vision Today Flex-Ro can do multiple types of field operations ” Flex-Ro has been working within test plots at the no-till Rogers Memorial Farm It has succeeded at planting corn and soybeans while moving at a pace of around 2 mph It has obstacle-detection and avoidance capabilities as well Beyond planting the robot can collect data from onboard sensors to monitor plant height temperature humidity and more It has a camera spectrometer temperature and humidity sensors and ultrasonic sensors It’s capable of navigating on its own when programmed with GPS coordinates This is considered “supervised autonomy” as it requires human input for setting its route and monitoring the planting process Flex-Ro’s modular design means the robot serves multiple purposes with a quick change in equipment Eventually the team hopes to use it for seeding cover crops using a bulk seed hopper One 5-year goal is to use Flex-Ro robots and drones to plant spray and apply fertilizer across the whole 300 acres of the Memorial Farm “Our long-term goal is to create more Flex-Ros with hybrid drive trains and operate them in a swarm configuration a team of robots ” says Pitla “Soon we’ll be exploring targeted spraying and nitrogen management application as well ” Regarding commercial viability Pitla believes more research is necessary to prove the robot’s value “A University-based start-up company will assess the feasibility of Flex-Ro commercially ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Santosh K Pitla Ph D spitla2@unl edu

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.