Design and development of agricultural soil moisture detector and control robot.

The moisture level in agricultural soil is important to be maintained at 20%-60% to achieve the desired output from crops. Agriculture has huge contribution toward GDP of Pakistan economy. it contributes about 25% of total GDP, which is larger than other sectors of Pakistan. Increase in GDP shows th

Project Title

Design and development of agricultural soil moisture detector and control robot.

Project Area of Specialization

Robotics

Project Summary

The moisture level in agricultural soil is important to be maintained at 20%-60% to achieve the desired output from crops. Agriculture has huge contribution toward GDP of Pakistan economy. it contributes about 25% of total GDP, which is larger than other sectors of Pakistan. Increase in GDP shows the developing progress of the economy. Agricultural soil moisture detection and control robot is a fully automated, functional, and innovative robot. The robot is a mechanical marvel in the field of agriculture, providing daily help to farmers for soil inspection. The robot has capability of soil moisture control with shower and fan, that adds to its social acceptance by combining detection and control of soil moisture.

The water content in soil is a solvent, meaning that it breaks down the nutrients and minerals that plants need from the dirt, allowing them to absorb these helpful particles into their systems. It is well known that only a fraction of the irrigation water is used by the crops. Hence, the sustainable use of irrigation water is a main concern for agriculture and not only under scarcity conditions. Therefore, quantitative evaluation of soil water content from the ground surface to larger depths is a key-issue for the comprehension and assessment of many phenomena depending on the interaction soil-vegetation-atmosphere, such as soil erosion, runoff, and soil water infiltration.

The robot provides a cost-effective measurement that can potentially drive various technological tools to promote data-driven sustainable agriculture through supplemental irrigation solutions, the lack of which has contributed to severe agricultural distress, particularly for smallholder farmers. The novelty in this robot lies in the autonomous derive and controlling of the moisture content level in soil. And robot’s ability to derive on any nature of surface; hilly, soil, sandy, clay type, Stoney, dried place, etc. The aim is to design and fabricate a robotic vehicle which moves on field, measuring the moisture level of soil and controlling it through fan and shower. Following are the characteristics of agricultural robot:

• It measures the moisture content in soil with the help of HW330 capacitive sensor
• It waters the soil by enabling pump if moisture content is below the threshold value
• It vaporizes the water content in the soil by switching on the fan if moisture content is more
• It has continuous tack wheels that help the robot build traction with the surface and move on any surface

Project Objectives

Robot moves in real environment with challenging surface conditions and other technical issues. The objectives needed to tackle the issues by taking real time parameters are:

1. To review about the available robotics system for agriculture moisture control
2. To select appropriate type of robot
3. To select appropriate type of sensors, actuators, and controllers
4. To develop robotic system for moisture detection and control
5. To analysis the performance of system in field

Project Implementation Method

The project implementation method incorporates five basic steps i.e., field inspection, system design, development, performance, and improvement of the main system.  The regular visits of field will help in understanding the problems of small holder farmers and providing an outlook to system definition. The next step follows the designing of system using real time parameters. The third step will enable us to change design into physical appearance followed by result estimation of mathematical model with physical model. The remaining things are related to the improvements that are needed for filling any gap in the project.

Based upon the uniformed design, the system architecture is developed and represented in simplified figure as shown below

Figure# system Architecture 

As shown in the figure, the proposed Agriculture Robot has various components such as Arduino mega microcontroller, Infrared sensors, Ultrasonic sensor, GSM module, Camera, robotic vehicle, Bluetooth Module, Power supply unit, water tank, rack and pinion assembly, fan and sprinkling pump.

The main program will be written in Arduino language that will be stored in Arduino Mega 2560 microcontroller. It will control every command provided to the robot.

Benefits of the Project

1. Affordable technology
2. Efficient movement on field
3. Efficient water content balance in soil
4. Fully developed traction of wheels with ground
5. Continuous detection and control of water content 

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The final deliverable is agrcultural robot containing following components:

1. Arduino Mega 2560 microcontroller

The Arduino Mega is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega1280 (datasheet). It has 54 digital input/output pins (of which 14 can be used as PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial ports), a 16 MHzcrystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header, and a reset button.

2. IR Sensor:

3. Ultrasonic Sensor:

4. Power supply board:

5. Continuous Track wheels:

6. 12V DC water pump:

7. Sprinkler Tank:

The farmers can take help of proposed system on field with 24/7 moisture detection and control in the soil. Farmers lack at maintaining proper moisture level for required crops due to lack of experience or low knowledge about crops, resulting in unhealthier nature of production. This agricultural robot will enable small holder farmers to take most from the crops of field, safe movement on field, all day inspection and information of soil.

Final Deliverable of the Project

Hardware System

Core Industry

Manufacturing

Other Industries

Core Technology

Robotics

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Decent Work and Economic Growth, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Responsible Consumption and Production

Required Resources

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