Integrated Route-Planning System for Agricultural Robots
Within the transition from precision agriculture (task-specific approach) to smart farming (system-specific approach) there is a need to build and evaluate robotic systems that are part of an overall integrated system under a continuous two-way connection and interaction. This paper presented an ini...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2024-03-01
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| Series: | AgriEngineering |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2624-7402/6/1/39 |
| _version_ | 1827307416856821760 |
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| author | Gavriela Asiminari Vasileios Moysiadis Dimitrios Kateris Patrizia Busato Caicong Wu Charisios Achillas Claus Grøn Sørensen Simon Pearson Dionysis Bochtis |
| author_facet | Gavriela Asiminari Vasileios Moysiadis Dimitrios Kateris Patrizia Busato Caicong Wu Charisios Achillas Claus Grøn Sørensen Simon Pearson Dionysis Bochtis |
| author_sort | Gavriela Asiminari |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Within the transition from precision agriculture (task-specific approach) to smart farming (system-specific approach) there is a need to build and evaluate robotic systems that are part of an overall integrated system under a continuous two-way connection and interaction. This paper presented an initial step in creating an integrated system for agri-robotics, enabling two-way communication between an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) and a farm management information system (FMIS) under the general scope of smart farming implementation. In this initial step, the primary task of route-planning for the agricultural vehicles, as a prerequisite for the execution of any field operation, was selected as a use-case for building and evaluating this integration. The system that was developed involves advanced route-planning algorithms within the cloud-based FMIS, a comprehensive algorithmic package compatible with agricultural vehicles utilizing the Robot Operating System (ROS), and a communicational and computational unit (CCU) interconnecting the FMIS algorithms, the corresponding user interface, and the vehicles. Its analytical module provides valuable information about UGVs’ performance metrics, specifically performance indicators of working distance, non-working distance, overlapped area, and field-traversing efficiency. The system was demonstrated via the implementation of two robotic vehicles in route-execution tasks in various operational configurations, field features, and cropping systems (open field, row crops, orchards). The case studies showed variability in the operational performance of the field traversal efficiency to be between 79.2% and 93%, while, when implementing the optimal route-planning functionality of the system, there was an improvement of up to 9.5% in the field efficiency. The demonstrated results indicate that the user can obtain better control over field operations by making alterations to ensure optimum field performance, and the user can have complete supervision of the operation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T18:38:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5a3945528d9545ceb78159ccf7ff8527 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2624-7402 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T18:38:45Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | AgriEngineering |
| spelling | doaj.art-5a3945528d9545ceb78159ccf7ff85272024-03-27T13:16:21ZengMDPI AGAgriEngineering2624-74022024-03-016165767710.3390/agriengineering6010039Integrated Route-Planning System for Agricultural RobotsGavriela Asiminari0Vasileios Moysiadis1Dimitrios Kateris2Patrizia Busato3Caicong Wu4Charisios Achillas5Claus Grøn Sørensen6Simon Pearson7Dionysis Bochtis8farmB Digital Agriculture S.A., 17th November 79, 55534 Thessaloniki, GreecefarmB Digital Agriculture S.A., 17th November 79, 55534 Thessaloniki, GreeceInstitute for Bio-Economy and Agri-Technology (IBO), Centre of Research and Technology-Hellas (CERTH), 6th km Charilaou-Thermi Rd., 57001 Thessaloniki, GreeceInteruniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), Polytechnic of Turin, Viale Mattioli 39, 10125 Torino, ItalyCollege of Information and Electrical Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, ChinaDepartment of Supply Chain Management, International Hellenic University, 57001 Thessaloniki, GreeceDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, DenmarkLincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology (LIAT), University of Lincoln, Lincoln LN6 7TS, UKfarmB Digital Agriculture S.A., 17th November 79, 55534 Thessaloniki, GreeceWithin the transition from precision agriculture (task-specific approach) to smart farming (system-specific approach) there is a need to build and evaluate robotic systems that are part of an overall integrated system under a continuous two-way connection and interaction. This paper presented an initial step in creating an integrated system for agri-robotics, enabling two-way communication between an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) and a farm management information system (FMIS) under the general scope of smart farming implementation. In this initial step, the primary task of route-planning for the agricultural vehicles, as a prerequisite for the execution of any field operation, was selected as a use-case for building and evaluating this integration. The system that was developed involves advanced route-planning algorithms within the cloud-based FMIS, a comprehensive algorithmic package compatible with agricultural vehicles utilizing the Robot Operating System (ROS), and a communicational and computational unit (CCU) interconnecting the FMIS algorithms, the corresponding user interface, and the vehicles. Its analytical module provides valuable information about UGVs’ performance metrics, specifically performance indicators of working distance, non-working distance, overlapped area, and field-traversing efficiency. The system was demonstrated via the implementation of two robotic vehicles in route-execution tasks in various operational configurations, field features, and cropping systems (open field, row crops, orchards). The case studies showed variability in the operational performance of the field traversal efficiency to be between 79.2% and 93%, while, when implementing the optimal route-planning functionality of the system, there was an improvement of up to 9.5% in the field efficiency. The demonstrated results indicate that the user can obtain better control over field operations by making alterations to ensure optimum field performance, and the user can have complete supervision of the operation.https://www.mdpi.com/2624-7402/6/1/39unmanned ground vehicleagri-robotsoperations planningsmart agriculturecloud-basedfarm management information system |
| spellingShingle | Gavriela Asiminari Vasileios Moysiadis Dimitrios Kateris Patrizia Busato Caicong Wu Charisios Achillas Claus Grøn Sørensen Simon Pearson Dionysis Bochtis Integrated Route-Planning System for Agricultural Robots AgriEngineering unmanned ground vehicle agri-robots operations planning smart agriculture cloud-based farm management information system |
| title | Integrated Route-Planning System for Agricultural Robots |
| title_full | Integrated Route-Planning System for Agricultural Robots |
| title_fullStr | Integrated Route-Planning System for Agricultural Robots |
| title_full_unstemmed | Integrated Route-Planning System for Agricultural Robots |
| title_short | Integrated Route-Planning System for Agricultural Robots |
| title_sort | integrated route planning system for agricultural robots |
| topic | unmanned ground vehicle agri-robots operations planning smart agriculture cloud-based farm management information system |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2624-7402/6/1/39 |
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