AGV Rice Transplanter

The issue of sustainable agriculture has often been raised on a global scale due to the ever increasing demands of crops as a result of growing population with a mutual consensus on developing innovative and cost effective methods of farming to cater to the needs of the consumers. Various crops such

Project Title

AGV Rice Transplanter

Project Area of Specialization

Mechatronics Engineering

Project Summary

The issue of sustainable agriculture has often been raised on a global scale due to the ever increasing demands of crops as a result of growing population with a mutual consensus on developing innovative and cost effective methods of farming to cater to the needs of the consumers. Various crops such as rice are highly labor intensive and require a fair amount of resources to cultivate before they can be harvested. Often conventional methods lead to crop wastage and inadequate field coverage with the cost of added labor leading to a higher production cost. In addition to that the extreme weather conditions of the field poses a threat to the health and safety of the farmers. Incorporating agricultural machinery such as riding type trans-planters is an added investment and also requires maintenance as well as fuel costs apart from that riding type trans-planters use petrol or diesel engines thus resulting in carbon emissions which also aggravates the problem of environmental pollution and global warming.

Our proposed project is an AGV Rice Trans-planter which will transplant the rice seedling into the paddy field with no human intervention and it has the ability to do repetitive tasks without the need to take a break regardless of the weather conditions. The autonomous nature of the transplanting robot does not require any human labor thereby eliminating labor costs and is programmed to provide uniform spacing to all crops and plant them at the desired angle which will allow for maximum field coverage and reduce crop wastage. Our design is compact, economical and eco-friendly with zero carbon emissions.

The project has two main components the AGV cart which will autonomously run along the length of the field and a transplanting arm which will plant the rice seedling into the paddy and an additional feature of a pesticide sprayer which will spray pesticides simultaneously at the time of planting. Our project is programmed with a navigational path planning algorithm and obstacle avoidance system which makes sure the AGV does not run into any obstacle at the time of planting and at the end of the field. The amount of time required to transplant the crop is drastically reduced due to the autonomous nature of our system and can operate for long hours due to its robust design.

We have selected an Arduino Mega to control the AGV which is interfaced with all the sensors, motors and pumps. IR sensors are used to make sure the AGV stays in its path and Ultrasonic sensors are used to detect immediate obstacles. Orientation control is achieved with the help of Gyro Compass module. The motor drives the motion of the AGV along with the motion of the transplanting arm using a chain and sprocket. The transplanting arm is made of a four bar linkage which is also driven with a chain and sprocket.

Project Objectives

Objectives

To decrease human labor requirement.

To plant the seedling efficiently.

To increase the yield.

To increase quality of crop.

To protect the environment from emissions.

To prevent attack from pests.

To spend less time in covering entire field.

To provide cost friendly equipment to farmers.

To prevent draining of excess pesticides into surrounding water bodies.

Project Implementation Method

A 3d model of the project will be made from scratch with all the tolerances kept in mind followed by a simulation of the project which will be done before fabrication. Upon obtaining favorable results from the project simulation according to both the 3d model simulation and mathematical model the project will then be fabricated.

For the purpose of fabrication an iron alloy chassis is made with all holes and fixtures added for mounting the necessary hardware which consists of both electronic and mechanical equipment.

The electronic equipment includes all the necessary power supplies, microcontroller, sensors, actuators and the driving mechanism where as the primary mechanical components are the motion transmission mechanism such as chain and sprocket linkage along the shaft and the roller bearings used for the steering mechanism. Slotted wheels are used so that the AGV is able to move easily in marshy and muddy soil.

The microcontroller used is Arduino Uno in which a navigational path planning algorithm along with an obstacle avoidance system is coded. Upon successful run of the algorithm the AGV will move along the desired motion, i.e. “L shaped iterations” until it reaches the end of the field. While doing so it will plant the seedling with the help of the transplanting mechanism which consists of 4 Bar-linkages and is again driven by a motor and chain sprocket linkage. The transplanting arm will plant the seedling at the desired angle with the necessary force so as to prevent damage to the crop and prevent from wasting any space in the field. Upon planting the seedling it will spray the pesticide stored in the canister, each time a seedling is planted it will spray the pesticide in mist form before moving onto the next plant and the process will repeat itself this way the pesticide is saved without it being sprayed in excessive amounts thereby reducing the cost of pesticides as well. In this manner the working of the AGV will be autonomous requiring no human intervention in planting the rice seedling and spraying the pesticide to prevent any attack from pests.

Initial testing of the AGV shall be carried out on an artificial field based on the same conditions that imitate an actual paddy after which testing will be done on an actual field.

Benefits of the Project

1. Current technology is mostly imported which is quite expensive and Pakistan doesn’t have very high purchasing power. Local manufacturing is needed to support Pakistan’s economy, our project shares this benefit for the nation. There are other Local Manufacturers who produce existing technology but at a very high price. And not only is it at a very high price it is still human dependent for control and working. Our project overcomes this problem. Not only do we provide easy and effective Rice Plantation, we do it at an affordable price, and without the need for any labor to operate it.
2. The AGV is installed with a control system and algorithm that automatically detects the field and plants the paddy rice plants onto the field in the most effective manner. Our project fulfils its primary goal of reducing labor costs and plantation time by Autonomous mechanism. However, this is not all, our AGV shares much more advantages than planting by traditional methods or the use of current technology.
3. The word Effective Plantation means that our AGV will plant Rice plants at the most effective angle ensuring no breakage in Plantation saving a lot of Rice plants that are usually wasted and lead to less production rates. Secondly, with the use of a set algorithm out AGV is capable of planting Paddy plants at equal distances to the maximum advantage of usage of field with enables us to get the most Rice crop out of the field. This may not seem to be much difference but on the bigger scale it makes a huge difference when effective plantation is done on 6.7 million Acres of Land.
4. While the plantation process carries on, Pesticides spraying is also set by a Spraying Algorithm which sprays Pesticides in the most efficient manner, only where needed. In this way our AGV Rice Transplanter not only saves 10% Pesticides which is normally wasted but also keeps the ecosystem safe from harmful Pesticides washing to nearby water bodies.
5. Motor driven Vehicles burn fuel to run, which produces air pollution. Our project covers this problem as well. To ensure a healthy community we aimed to make our project pollution free which is why our design was made to be electrically driven. Getting back to the main objective which was to ensure labor reduction.
6. Instead of buying a harvester in addition to the  expense of the transplanter. Our design has a changeable tool option which allows us to convert AGV Rice Transplanter to AGV Rice Harvester just with the change of a tool. This is the way we achieve our vision and mission for our project.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

AGV Rice Transplanter.

1. Autonomous Movement System

• This system will ensure complete and precise field coverage with proper obstacle avoidance to cover the entire field for plantation
• MY 1016Z2 24 V 250 W DC Electric Motors are used as Actuators for the movement providing 150 rpm at 12V. Motor driver is used for speed control.
• HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Sensor is used for obstacle avoidance.
• HMC5883L Compass Module is used for direction control with a steering Mechanism which is also actuated by a MY 1016Z2 DC Electric Motor.

1. Motion Transmission System:

• A 24-volt 250 watt 3000 rpm Geared DC motor is mounted at the rear wheel shaft.

For steering it utilizes a mechanical steering system which actuated by its own independent motors.

1. Pesticide Spraying Mechanism

• Mist sprayer is used for pesticide spray to spray adequate amount with little to zero wastage, to avoid damage to the natural Eco System.
• 12 V Pump is connected with a Relay Module with switches the spraying mechanism On and Off as per the requirement. On plantation of each plant pesticide Spraying pump is activated to spray specifically that plant.

1. Planting Mechanism

• Planting Mechanism is comprised of linkages which allow for repeatable movement for continuous rice plantation. These set of linkages are connected and driven by a MY 1016Z2 DC Electric Motor.
• The speed of the motor for precise plantation is controlled by a Motor Driver which is powered by Arduino controller.
• The Mechanism picks the paddy rice plant from the paddy Rice Tray and plants the crop onto the field.
• Mechanism calculations of the linkages are set so that the Mechanism picks one paddy Rice plant and plant it precisely to avoid any damage and for maximum effectiveness.

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

Agriculture

Other Industries

Core Technology

Robotics

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Responsible Consumption and Production, Life Below Water, Life on Land, Partnerships to achieve the Goal

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com