ROBOTIC TANKETTE FOR INTELLIGENT BIOENERGY AGRICULTURE: DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND FIELD TESTS1

MARCO  F. S. XAUD; ANTONIO  C. LEITE; EVELYN  S. BARBOSA; HENRIQUE  D. FARIA; GABRIEL  S. M. LOUREIRO; PÅL  J. FROM

doi:10.20906/CBA2022/519

MARCO F. S. XAUD Norwegian University of Life Sciences
ANTONIO C. LEITE Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
EVELYN S. BARBOSA Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
HENRIQUE D. FARIA Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
GABRIEL S. M. LOUREIRO Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
PÅL J. FROM Norwegian University of Life Sciences

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20906/CBA2022/519

Keywords: Mobile robots, Agricultural robotics, Embedded electronics, Sensors integration

Abstract

In recent years, the use of robots in agriculture has been increasing mainly due to the high demand
of productivity, precision and eciency, which follow the climate change eects and world population growth.
Unlike conventional agriculture, sugarcane farms are usually regions with dense vegetation, gigantic areas, and subjected to extreme weather conditions, such as intense heat, moisture and rain. TIBA - Tankette for Intelligent BioEnergy Agriculture - is the rst result of an R&D project which strives to develop an autonomous mobile robotic system for carrying out a number of agricultural tasks in sugarcane elds. The proposed concept consists of a semi-autonomous, low-cost, dust and waterproof tankette-type vehicle, capable of inltrating dense vegetation in plantation tunnels and carry several sensing systems, in order to perform mapping of hard-to-access areas and collecting samples. This paper presents an overview of the robot mechanical design, the embedded electronics and software architecture, and the construction of a rst prototype. Preliminary results obtained in eld tests validate the proposed conceptual design and bring about several challenges and potential applications for robot autonomous navigation, as well as to build a new prototype with additional functionality.