Robot for Precision Agriculture

In the present scenario, Pakistani agricultural sector have not sufficient skilled man power leading to very low agricultural share in the economy. The traditional method used by farmers include broadcasting/sowing the seeds and fertilizers by labours, which is time-consuming and inef

Project Title

Robot for Precision Agriculture

Project Area of Specialization

Robotics

Project Summary

In the present scenario, Pakistani agricultural sector have not sufficient skilled man power leading to very low agricultural share in the economy. The traditional method used by farmers include broadcasting/sowing the seeds and fertilizers by labours, which is time-consuming and inefficient process. In order to obtain high agricultural productivity, the farmers have to employ emerging technologies for agriculture. Precision agriculture, often called precision farming, is a farm management concept based on the use of numerous technologies to manage different aspects involved with all elements of agricultural production. The main purpose is to improve agricultural performance as well as environmental quality.

This project is aimed to design a robotic vehicle for precision agriculture equipped with highly accurate sowing of seeds and spraying of fertilizers on crops. The robot will perform the seed sowing process at the optimal depth and distances between the crops and their rows, depending on the crop variety.  This robotic system can also check crop nutrition level using the sensors and provide the appropriate fertilizer for optimal production. The solar panels are integrated within the system for charging of battery for the robot working. The design will reduce farmer labourous work, and extra cost due to wastage of seeds and pestisides/chemicals. Ultimately, this project will assist farmers and improve agriculture productivity.

Project Objectives

This project is aimed to develop a robotic vehicle for precision agriculture that can perform seed sowing and fertilizer spraying procudres on crops with extreme precision. The main objectives of the precision agriculture robot includes the following:

1. Auotmated Sowing of Seeds or Planting in soil: After land preparation, the sowing of seeds or plants in soil is the prime requirement. The employment of robot and electronic devices in agricultural performs sowing of seeds and planting with the optimal depth and distances between the crops and their rows, depending on the crop variety. This will ensure best possible utilization of seeds without any wastage that occurs in manual methods.

2. Technology based Green Solutions: The traditional agriculture uses trackers and diesel motors that run on fuel for land preparation, fertilizers distribution, and water providing to crop, which are costly and environmental unfriendly. This project offers green, clean and low-cost solution since no carbon emission are generated  due to use of solar panel. In this project, we use solar panel mounted on the robot to run and charge the battery. In comparsion to fuel comsumption in traditional agriculture methods, the precsion robot is cost-effective.

3. DC Motors Integration for Proper Actions of Robot: A total of six DC motors are integrated in the system for driving/moving the robot and proper sowing of seeds in the land. GSM is used to control the movement of precsion robotic system.

4. Maintaining the desired Nutrient Level of Soil: This robotic system will also check crop nutrient level using the deployed sensors. On the basis of soil report, the desired fertilizer requirement for quality production will be sprayed on the crop. The fetilizer spraying process on crop is provided by the employing the servo motors where fertilizer is stored on a tank placed on robot body.

Project Implementation Method

The proposed robot for precision agriculture employs Arduino UNO, GSM module, soil moisture sensor, obstacle detector,  DC motors, Relays, servo motors, and solar panel. These modules are interfaced to the Arduino UNO to perform sowing of seeds in land,  water spraying and pesticide sprinkling accoding to crop and soil requirements provided by soil moisture sensor. This prototype is controlled by GSM and Android smart phone App build on remote mobile phone. The wireless communication is used to move the robotic system in front, back, right and left direction. The wireless communication is used to move the robot in four directions as front, back, right and left. The commands received from smart phone App will dictate/instruct the necessary tasks to be performed by the robot in the field.

The robotic is developed using DC motors, GSM, relays and their motor drivers circuit/shield (L298), solar panel (40 W maimum rating) and Arduino UNO. The robot includes drillling mechanism to dig the soil, seed dispenser for sowing, and seed storage. The different modules installed on robot are controlled by motors, Arduino, and power supply of 12 V charged by solar panel. 

The cultivator is attached at end of robot which is driven by dc motor for soil digging. The seeds are dropped through drilled hole on the shaft by the linked mechanism with soil digging. A leveler is used to close the seeds and water pump sprayer is used to spray the water. The robot is guided and controlled by the remote guiding device. When the motors are initiated, the module moves in the programmed columns of ploughed land. It then performs the functions of digging the soil and sowing the seeds.

In order to spray the pesticide to the crop, an automatic pesticide sprayer is installed on robot. The system consists of a sprayer filled with required pesticide controlled by servo motors. The sprayer ensures a continuous flow of pesticide. The sprayer adjusts the height in order to spray the pesticide on the desired part of the plant. 

Benefits of the Project

This robot is so useful and beneficial in the present agricultural field the benefits of the projects are:

1- No fuel consumption because we used battery for the power and solar panel is used to charge the battery.
2- It has more accuracy than manual machines.
3- Improve the harvest quality and accuracy.
4- It protects the farmers from harmful sprays because it is controlled by gsm module.

5- Main benefit of this robot is that it can be used for the long range because gsm is used for the communication.

6- This is multifunctional robot that can perform seeding, spraying and also measure soil moisture. So it is so much beneficial for the agriculture in the present scenario.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

There are many components using in this prototype each component has some specifications.

Arduino uno;

                       Arduino uno is the microcontroller which has 14 input and output pins in this robot Ardino is using to control the robot. Arduino is programed by c++ language.

Gsm module:

Gsm module is used for the wireless communication between robot and android phone in which the developed android app is installed.

OBSTACLE DETECTOR:

The obstacle detector is used to detect the objects. If any object comes infront of robot it will get detected by obstacle detector.

DC MOTORS:

The DC motors are used for the forward and backward movement of robot.

SERVO MOTORS:

Servo motor is also used for seeding purpose as well for the spraying purpose for the movement of water pump. It rotates at 180° angle.

SOLAR PANEL:

In this project solar panel is used to charge a battery by the sunlight radiations. We are using 100watt solar panel which charge the battery in 2 hours.

RELAY MODULE:

Relay module is used as a switch to on an off the dc water pump.

BATTERY:

Battery is used for the power supply and 12v battery is used in this project.

Final Deliverable of the Project

Hardware System

Core Industry

Agriculture

Other Industries

Finance

Core Technology

Robotics

Other Technologies

Others

Sustainable Development Goals

Good Health and Well-Being for People, Affordable and Clean Energy

Required Resources

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