Design-of-a-remote-controlled-and-GPS-guided-auto

ARTICLEInternationalJournalofAdvancedRoboticSystemsDesignofaRemote-controlledandGPS-guidedAutonomousRobotforPrecisionFarmingRegularPaperİlkerÜnal1*andMehmetTopakci21TechnicalScienceVocationalSchool,AkdenizUniversity,Antalya,Turkey2DepartmentofAgriculturalMachineryandTechnologiesEngineering,FacultyofAgriculture,AkdenizUniversity,Turkey*Correspondingauthor(s)E-mail:[e-mail]26January2015;Accepted28November2015DOI:10.5772/62059©2015Author(s).LicenseeInTech.ThisisanopenaccessarticledistributedunderthetermsoftheCreativeCommonsAttributionLicense(),whichpermitsunrestricteduse,distribution,andreproductioninanymedium,providedtheoriginalworkisproperlycited.AbstractDeterminingvariationsinfieldsisimportantforprecisionfarmingapplications.Precisionfarmingisusedtodeter‐mine,analyse,andmanagefactorssuchastemporalandspatialvariabilitytoobtainmaximumprofit,sustainability,andenvironmentalprotection.However,precisionfarm‐ingisexcessivelydependentonsoilandplanttestprocess‐es.Furthermore,testprocessesaretime-consuming,laboriousandexpensive.Theseprocessesalsocannotbeperformedquicklybyhumans.Forthesereasons,autono‐mousrobotsshouldbedesignedanddevelopedforthedetectionoffieldvariationsandvariable-rateapplications.Inthisstudy,aremote-controlledandGPS-guidedauton‐omousrobotwasdesignedanddeveloped,whichcanbecontrolledviathe3Ginternetandissuitableforimage-processingapplications.Thejoystickisusedtomanuallyremotelycontroltherobotmovementsinanydirectionorspeed.Real-timevideotransmissiontotheremotecomput‐ercanbeaccomplishedwithacameraplacedonthevehicle.Navigationsoftwarewasdevelopedforsteeringtherobotautonomously.Intheresultsofthefieldtestforthenavigationsoftware,itwasfoundthatthelineartargetpointprecisionrangedfrom10to12cmandthedistributedtargetpointprecisionrangedfrom15to17cm.KeywordsRemoteControl,GPS-guidedRobot,Naviga‐tion,PrecisionFarming,3GInternet1.IntroductionAgriculturalpracticeshavebeenrevolutionizedbytheintroductionofcomputersandelectroniccomponents.Oneexampleisautomaticnavigationofagriculturalmachines,includingtractorsandcombineharvesters.GPSandmachinevisiontechniquesfindmanyapplicationsinagriculturalproductionpractices[1].Thedevelopmentsofelectronicsandtheresultingdecreaseinthesizeofcom‐puters,andthesimultaneousdevelopmentofsmarterchipsandmicroprocessors,havegreatlyaffectedtheagriculturalindustry.Improvementsindataacquisitionandtransferandtheprocessingpowerofcomputers,aswellastheirabilitytoprocesshugequantitiesofdatainverylittletime,havecontributedtotheincreaseinautonomousvehicleresearch[2].Thepotentialbenefitsofautomatedagricul‐turalvehiclesincludeincreasedproductivityandaccuracy,togetherwithenhancedoperationalsafety.Researchonautonomousagriculturalvehicleshasbecomeverypopu‐1IntJAdvRobotSyst,2015,12:194|doi:10.5772/62059lar,andtheroboticsindustryhasdevelopedawiderangeofremarkablerobots.Inthenearfuture,farmerswillbeusingaffordable,dependableautonomousvehiclesforagriculturalapplications[3].Thehistoricaldevelopmentoftheautomatictractorcanbedatedbacktotheearly20thcentury.Thefirststeeringattachmentfortractorswasdevelopedin1924[4].Mostagriculturalmachinesthatmovedautonomouslyusedmechanicalsettingsuntilthe1970s.Inthe1980sthepotentialforcombiningcomputerswithimagesensorsprovidedopportunitiesformachinevision-basedguidancesystems[5].Within10years,machinevisionwasbeingusedtosuccessfullyguideagriculturaltractorsinthefield[6,7].Around1990,theGlobalPositioningSystem(GPS)becameavailableinalimitedcapacityforcivilianuse,andthepossibilityofrapidandaccuratevehiclelocationandnavigationsparkedaflurryofactivity.In1995,thesystemreachedfulloperationalcapability;sincethattime,GPShashadasignificanteffectonagriculturalpractices[8].In1997,agriculturalautomationbecameamajorissue,alongwiththeadvocacyofprecisionagriculture.Since2000,drawingondevelopmentsinsensorandGPStechnology,research‐ershaveshownmaintainedinterestinautonomousfarmmachinery.Manyresearchinstitutionshaverecentlydevelopedrobottractorsandrobotvehiclesforagriculturalpurposes[9].In[10]asensorfusiontechniquefornavigationalpostureestimationwasdevelopedforaskid-steeredmobilerobotvehicleinnurserytreeplantations.In[11]anautomatedricetransplanterandautonomousguidanceoperationweredeveloped.In[12]theauthorsdevelopedalow-costandsmall-scaleelectronicrobotvehicleandautomaticguidancesystemfororchardapplication.Anotherautono‐mousrobotforuseinorchardswasdevelopedin[13]:thisvehicleisabletoautonomouslydrivethroughtreerows.Theresearcherreportedthatthefivevehiclescompletedsofarhavetravelledautonomouslyover300kminresearchandcommercialtree-fruitorchards;preliminaryresultsintimetrialsconductedbyextensioneducatorsindicateefficiencygainsofupto58%.Muchfurtherresearchhasbeenperformedtowardsthedevelopmentofagriculturalrobotandsemi-robotvehicles[14-20].However,nostudyhasyetreportedonanautonomousvehiclethatisbothGPS-guidedandremote-controlled,andwhichcanbecontrolledviatheinternetforfieldapplica‐tions.Thisstudyaddressesthisresearchgap(Figure1).Navigationsoftwa