AgroTech

Jul 7, 2022 Ongoing
Project Status: Ongoing

Design and Development of Autonomous Robot for Crop-Monitoring and Localized Pest Neutralization

Motivation

Sustainable and profitable farming is essential for economic growth. Automation and AI/ML-based technologies can help farmers increase their productivity. It has the potential to increase agricultural yields and reduce losses. Farming is a major source of income in our nation’s economy. As a result, raising agricultural output is essential. The use of pesticides must be minimised, and disease-related losses must be prevented. Keeping these goals in mind, our lab has accepted the challenge of developing new technologies to help solve this critical issue.

Objectives

Autonomous Robot development for:

  • Monitoring local conditions (temperature, humidity etc.) in the farm
  • Autonomous navigation (manual override option available)
  • Smart sensors (high resolution camera) and algorithms (AI/ML based) to detect local infestation of crops
  • Efficient deterrence by localised pesticides delivery mechanism to the affected area
  • Advance precision farming technique
  • Display for real-time image feeds from inaccessible regions on the farm

Experimental Fields for Potato and Tomato Crop

Experimental Potato Crop Field at CSA university Kanpur measuring 60m X 15m with 1400 potato plants for disease data collection for the entire lifecycle (sowing to harvesting). Cultivated between Dec 2020 and March 2021 the test field yielded around 10000 image data and 4000 multimodal data by continuous autonomous sampling.

AgroTech Robots

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KriPaN

कृषि पर्यावरण निरीक्षक (Krishi Pariyavaran Nirikshak)

Agricultural Environmental Observator

The first line of technology which we have developed is KriPaN (Krishi Parayavaran Nirikshak, Agriculture Environment Observator). It is an robot/observator to monitor field conditions and collect field data. It can scan the entire field autonomously and can collect required data. It is one of the unique kinds of system and patent has been applied.

In-house designed and developed KriPaN, capable of scanning the field in X-Y direction and capture images from above. The system includes a high-resolution camera and an onboard Cortex-A72 processor, and it can be controlled remotely from anywhere on the field. It can operate autonomously and relay the captured images to a server. It enabled capturing approximately 10000 images over a period of 3 months for Potato crop. This is a unique system for remote monitoring and patent has been filed to protect IP.

SaRP

सस्य रोग परिवेक्षक (Sasya Rog Parivekshak)

Plant Disease Investigator

The proposed developed robot is able to identify the plant disease in potato and tomato field. It roams in the field and observes the plant which are disease prone or diseased. It keeps that information and shares with KriPaN or SUrYa.

SaRP : Plant Disease Investigator

SUrYa

सस्य उपचार यंत्रोर (Sasya Upchar Yantror)

Crop Treatment Robot

This robot is in the final phase of development. This robot can apply the proper treatment to diseased plants. It works in the coordination with SaRP or KriPaN.

SUrYa : Crop Treatment Robot

Patents:

(2022). A ROBOT SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY MANAGING AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES. Patent No: 416719.

(2021). A SYSTEM FOR FACILITATING TWO-DIMENSIONAL FLUID MOVEMENT OF AN OBJECT OVER AN AREA. Patent No: 401748.

Agriculture