Automation And Robotics In Agriculture

Robotics has great potential in improving productivity and precision in agriculture. The book reviews advances in technologies such as machine vision and control systems, as well as applications from crop planting, fertilisation, pest and weed management to livestock production.

Over the past few decades, extensive research has been conducted on the applications of agricultural robots and automation to a variety of field and greenhouse operations, and technical fundamentals and their feasibility have also been widely demonstrated. Due to the unstructured environment, adverse interference and complicated and diversified operation process are the key of blocking its commercialization in robotic agricultural operations. Because of the development of automation techniques, smart sensors, and information techniques, some types of agricultural robots have achieved considerable success in recent years. This book intends to provide the reader with a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art in agricultural robots, fundamentals, and applications in robotic agricultural operations.

The aim of the book is to introduce the state-of-the-art technologies in the field of robotics, mechatronics and automation in agriculture in order to summarize and review the improvements in the methodologies in agricultural robotics. Advances made in the past decades are described, including robotics for agriculture, mechatronics for agriculture, kinematics, dynamics and control analysis of agricultural robotics, and a wide range of topics in the field of robotics, mechatronics and automation for agricultural applications.

Over the past century, mechanization has been an important means for optimizing resource utilization, improving worker health and safety and reducing labor requirements in farming while increasing productivity and quality of 4F (Food, Fuel, Fiber, Feed). Recognizing this contribution, agricultural mechanization was considered as one of the top ten engineering achievements of 20th century by the National Academy of Engineering. Accordingly farming communities have adopted increasing level of automation and robotics to further improve the precision management of crops (including input resources), increase productivity and reduce farm labor beyond what has been possible with conventional mechanization technologies. It is more important than ever to continue to develop and adopt novel automation and robotic solutions into farming so that some of the most complex agricultural tasks, which require huge amount of seasonal labor such as fruit and vegetable harvesting, could be automated while meeting the rapidly increasing need for 4F. In addition, continual innovation in and adoption of agricultural automation and robotic technologies is essential to minimize the use of depleting resources including water, minerals and other chemicals so that sufficient amount of safe and healthy food can be produced for current generation while not compromising the potential for the future generation. This book aims at presenting the fundamental principles of various aspects of automation and robotics as they relate to production agriculture (the branch of agriculture dealing with farming operations from field preparation to seeding, to harvesting and field logistics). The building blocks of agricultural automation and robotics that are discussed in the book include sensing and machine vision, control, guidance, manipulation and end-effector technologies. The fundamentals and operating principles of these technologies are explained with examples from cutting-edge research and development currently going on around the word. This book brings together scientists, engineers, students and professionals working in these and related technologies to present their latest examples of agricultural automation and robotics research, innovation and development while explaining the fundamentals of the technology. The book, therefore, benefits those who wish to develop novel agricultural engineering solutions and/or to adopt them in the future. .

The history of Japan's agriculture is characterized by efforts to increase production and productivity. At the beginning of the 21st century, both public and private sector research has focused on developing ever-more sophisticated tools to address a wide-range of challenges facing the agricultural industry. An amazing array of automation technologies and robots have been developed in the process, to do everything from tilling fields to picking strawberries, from planting rice seedlings to autonomously weeding the paddies. This richly-illustrated volume surveys the results of these efforts, concisely and plainly presenting specific examples of the latest robotic mechanisms and practices for agricultural applications.

This book provides a review of the state-of-the-art of agricultural robotics in different aspects of PA, the goals, and the gaps. The book introduces the area of Agricultural Robotics for Precision Agriculture (PA) specifically the conditions and limitations for implementing robots in this field and presents the concepts, principles, required abilities, components, characteristics and performance measures, conditions, and rules for robots in PA.

This textbook have given detailed information on Automation and Robotics for farmers. It contains 29 Chapters viz. Introduction, Definition of Automation, Definition of Farm Automation, Robotics Definition, Types of Automation, Concepts and Components of Robots, Types of Robots, Some of the Main Applications of Robots for Farming, Robotic Applications in Agricultural Operations, Top 10 Robotic Applications for the Farmers, IoT in Agricultural Automation, Automation and Wireless System Networks in Agriculture, Technologies Used in Automation for Farmers, Private Companies Technologies in Automation and Robotics for Agriculture, Top 30 Interesting Farm Automation Technologies and their Companies, Robots in Farming Operations, Sensors and Automation: The Future of Farming in India, Success Stories of Startup in India on Agriculture, Automation and Robotics, Indian Agritech Startups to Watch Out for in 2018 on Automation and Robotics, Robots Revolutionizing the Agricultural Landscape, The Agricultural Robotics Marketing in the World, Enabling Technologies for Future Robotic Agriculture Systems, Human-Robot Interaction, Learning and Adaptation of Robots in Agriculture, Benefits of Automation and Robotics in Agriculture, Advantages of Agricultural Robots, Agricultural Robots Disadvantages, Challenges of Farm Automation and Robotics, Future Scope for Automation, Robotics and Wireless, System Networks in Agriculture. This textbook will be useful to the researchers, scientists, policy makers, students researcher, extension functionaries, both central and state government research stations and research centers of agricultural and allied subjects, universities and colleges, NGO's, private agencies and farmers (who is the target group for development and dissemination of technologies).

This collection explores and reviews the wealth of recent research undertaken in the field of agricultural robotics, both in terms of core technologies and range of applications.