Preliminary Examination of Emergent Threat and Risk Landscapes in Intelligent Harvesting Robots
Recently, many farmers have started using robots to help with labour-intensive harvesting operations and deal with labour shortage that was also a negative consequence of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Intelligent harvesting robots make farming more efficient and productive. However, and like any oth...
Main Authors: | , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-12-01
|
Series: | Applied Sciences |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/24/12931 |
_version_ | 1797461553025384448 |
---|---|
author | Nabil Moukafih Gregory Epiphaniou Carsten Maple Chris Chavasse John Moran |
author_facet | Nabil Moukafih Gregory Epiphaniou Carsten Maple Chris Chavasse John Moran |
author_sort | Nabil Moukafih |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Recently, many farmers have started using robots to help with labour-intensive harvesting operations and deal with labour shortage that was also a negative consequence of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Intelligent harvesting robots make farming more efficient and productive. However, and like any other technology, intelligent harvesting robots come with a security risk, as threats can damage the robotic system and wreak havoc before the farmer/operator realizes it. This paper focuses on analysing the threats against the security of harvesting robots alongside with the safety implications that may rise if the robotic system is compromised. We analysed an actual asparagus harvesting robot and looked at others in the literature. We identified several security threats which we classified into five categories: network, hardware, software, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud security issues. We selected three interesting attack scenarios for a deeper analysis. Our results suggest that these robots have a large attack surface that can lead to exploits with immense financial and operational impacts. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:22:01Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-56b6b28e122d47c0b14e0eb06b50f4ec |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2076-3417 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:22:01Z |
publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
publisher | MDPI AG |
record_format | Article |
series | Applied Sciences |
spelling | doaj.art-56b6b28e122d47c0b14e0eb06b50f4ec2023-11-24T13:07:14ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172022-12-0112241293110.3390/app122412931Preliminary Examination of Emergent Threat and Risk Landscapes in Intelligent Harvesting RobotsNabil Moukafih0Gregory Epiphaniou1Carsten Maple2Chris Chavasse3John Moran4WMG, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UKWMG, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UKWMG, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UKMuddy Machines Ltd., London SW6 4SL, UKMuddy Machines Ltd., London SW6 4SL, UKRecently, many farmers have started using robots to help with labour-intensive harvesting operations and deal with labour shortage that was also a negative consequence of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Intelligent harvesting robots make farming more efficient and productive. However, and like any other technology, intelligent harvesting robots come with a security risk, as threats can damage the robotic system and wreak havoc before the farmer/operator realizes it. This paper focuses on analysing the threats against the security of harvesting robots alongside with the safety implications that may rise if the robotic system is compromised. We analysed an actual asparagus harvesting robot and looked at others in the literature. We identified several security threats which we classified into five categories: network, hardware, software, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud security issues. We selected three interesting attack scenarios for a deeper analysis. Our results suggest that these robots have a large attack surface that can lead to exploits with immense financial and operational impacts.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/24/12931intelligent harvestingroboticssecurity assessmentAIintelligent farming |
spellingShingle | Nabil Moukafih Gregory Epiphaniou Carsten Maple Chris Chavasse John Moran Preliminary Examination of Emergent Threat and Risk Landscapes in Intelligent Harvesting Robots Applied Sciences intelligent harvesting robotics security assessment AI intelligent farming |
title | Preliminary Examination of Emergent Threat and Risk Landscapes in Intelligent Harvesting Robots |
title_full | Preliminary Examination of Emergent Threat and Risk Landscapes in Intelligent Harvesting Robots |
title_fullStr | Preliminary Examination of Emergent Threat and Risk Landscapes in Intelligent Harvesting Robots |
title_full_unstemmed | Preliminary Examination of Emergent Threat and Risk Landscapes in Intelligent Harvesting Robots |
title_short | Preliminary Examination of Emergent Threat and Risk Landscapes in Intelligent Harvesting Robots |
title_sort | preliminary examination of emergent threat and risk landscapes in intelligent harvesting robots |
topic | intelligent harvesting robotics security assessment AI intelligent farming |
url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/24/12931 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT nabilmoukafih preliminaryexaminationofemergentthreatandrisklandscapesinintelligentharvestingrobots AT gregoryepiphaniou preliminaryexaminationofemergentthreatandrisklandscapesinintelligentharvestingrobots AT carstenmaple preliminaryexaminationofemergentthreatandrisklandscapesinintelligentharvestingrobots AT chrischavasse preliminaryexaminationofemergentthreatandrisklandscapesinintelligentharvestingrobots AT johnmoran preliminaryexaminationofemergentthreatandrisklandscapesinintelligentharvestingrobots |