Solar Based Seed Sowing Robot

The agriculture is considered as backbone of our country. For sustainable growth of Pakistan development in agriculture domain is necessary because about 60.78% of people are depending on agriculture in Pakistan. Pakistan?s population is growing exponentially hence demand of food is also inc

Project Title

Solar Based Seed Sowing Robot

Project Area of Specialization

Robotics

Project Summary

The agriculture is considered as backbone of our country. For sustainable growth of Pakistan development in agriculture domain is necessary because about 60.78% of people are depending on agriculture in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s population is growing exponentially hence demand of food is also increasing and agricultural recourses are becoming scarce day by day. From last 70 years we have been using traditional methods of sowing. Manual seed planting is very time consuming process and require huge labors and wages. This creates a fuss for the farmers and it results in low rate of seed placement as they are hesitant to buy sophisticated machines due to high prices and complicated operations.

Conventional sowing methods are also available but they also have lot of disadvantages like no uniform distribution of seed, no proper spacing and no control over depth of seed.

Automated system is used to reduce man work and cultivation activity can be enhanced. The energy that we need to run this automated machine is much less than other agriculture machines like tractors, harvesters. This robot is solar power based and solar energy is very abundant in nature as sun is the prime source of solar energy and in daylight fields are exposed to sunlight and this energy is utilized to charge the batteries and also this can be used to run other load devices.

This is an eco-friendly project, hence problem of pollution is also eliminated. Whereas traditional methods pose a greater threats to the environment as harmful fumes are generated by the tractors and harvesters which is the main cause of global warming. Solar panels don’t emit harmful gases.

The other advantage of this robot is the MPPT charger controller which is used to charge DC battery to provide the backup energy after sunset. This charger is more reliable as it doesn’t overcharges the battery hence giving more life to battery.

 At day time there is no need of battery so load at day time can directly get power from solar panel through charge controller. Whereas, batteries stores power to be consumed at night time. Arduino Uno atmega 328 microcontroller is used to control robotic movement and to perform all other functions.

Project Objectives

In Pakistan, there is a dire need of agricultural advancements as farmers are still used to the conventional seed sowing techniques which are reaping less benefits. So the agricultural system should be made advanced in Pakistan to reduce the efforts of farmers in order to increase efficiency and productivity and to minimize the energy consumption in crop operations. Precision farming is given more importance now a days so there a need to shift to this trend. This paper will give a better solution which focuses on maximization of production yield.

With the advent of technology new facilities are created for creating ease in agricultural methods. Technologists are trying to develop new systems based on automation, which works very effectively and based on real time technology. New technologies of seed sowing has an extraordinary impact on the cost and yield of agriculture product. These technologies improves the living standard of farmers. The prime purpose of seed sowing with autonomous robot is to measure precise depth and proper spacing between the holes and cover the seed with soil to provide a good compaction for the seed. The aim of this project is to design and fabricate a robot which would be completely autonomous, based on solar energy. It would be affordable to all the farmers on very cheaper rate.

Project Implementation Method

The all the components in the system as working in synchronization to increase the accuracy of seed sowing. The robot is made with aluminum for efficient reduction in weight  and can only be used for prepared land.

 Arduino Uno 328 microcontroller is use to write algorithm of maximum power point tracking system. Arduino microcontroller is used to control the motion of this assembly or robotic hand.

Servo motors: For designing of robot arm assembly two servo motors gm299 are used .

Seed rate can also be controlled by adjusting the motion of robot and by measuring the distance covered by its wheels.

Seed container is used to store seeds.

IR/LDR sensor is used to indicate either container is empty or not.

LCD display is used to check the output voltage of Panel and current that is used by a load.

L298 is motor driver IC that is used to drive DC geared motors. One L298 can control two motors at a time.

Mobile application features Robotic motion can be controlled according to the need with mobile application. Seed rate can also be controlled. The robot is designed for multi-seeding hence it can use multi-seed for sowing. Ultrasonic sensor is used to sense the obstacle in the path. Ultra sonic sensors are large range sensors that can help to make decision for robot if there is any obstacle it should change its path.

Solar panel: It uses a solar panel that charge battery through MPPT charge controller that is more power efficient and more reliable and give 10-30% extra power that PWM charge controller. MPPT should work on P&O technique which is perturbation and observation. The main object is to get maximum power and it is only possible when there is no slope on PV graph.

All the components from microcontroller to solar panel take very less space and these components are fitted on the device. If there is any fault in any component, it can be replaced with ease. Also robot is designed to withstand tough and harsh environment of the fields making it more reliable. As aluminum is light weight and prevent from corrosion and rusting. Robot is very light weight and it can run smoothly on any terrain. If wheels get damaged it can be replaced easily.    

Benefits of the Project

This robot is designed to eliminate the trouble, and give optimal solution for sowing different kinds of seeds with ease and precision we believe this is the right choice for the farmers and for those people who are in short of laborers and businessman who wants to generate huge revenue without disturbing the environment. 

labour can sow seeds using this robot, if he want to change the distance between seeds he just need to change the disk of seeding assembly and the distance between seeds will be changed.By using this robot seed rate can be controlled.

In future, this robot can be extended to perform all the tasks such as digging, sowing, harvesting, monitoring of pests and diseases, fertilizing and spraying. This also enable the farmers to just supervise the robots to perform without need to operate them. In future dedicated processors for image detection and sowing seed mechanism will be implemented. Multi-hoppers can be attached to side by side to sow large farms. Water dripping unit can also be attached with the robot.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Our project "Solar Based Seed Sowing Robot" use a solar panel that is use to charge battery using charge controller. Charge controller is MPPT based that extract the maximum power from solar panel and store it in the battery.

Robot uses four wheel that are coupled with DC geared motors and energy from battery is used to run these motors.Arduino Atmega 328 microcontroller is used to control these DC geared motors. DC Brush Motor Controller, Yeeco Dual H-Bridge DC Brushed Motor Driver DC 5V-48V 16A 12v 24V 36V 48V High Power motor drive controller board PWM Speed Regulator is used as a motor driver circuit. Advantage of this driver circuit is that it can run motors efficiently because it maximum current rating is 16A. L298 module can also be used but its current rating is 2A. When there is a large load on motors more than 2A, L298 will be burned.

HC-05 bluetooth module is used to control movement of motors. As this bluetooth module has 30 feet operating range, so it can be used only in between 30 feet.

A DC geared motor with a disk connectd with this motor is used to throw seeds , that are picked up from seed container.As we firslty measured the circumference of that disk and then make seed picking points on it with accurate distance. so that seed rate can be controlled and distance between each seed remains same.

A Solinoid is used to press the seed into soil after seed is thrown by disk. Also we use ultrasonic sensors that detects the obstacle.Buzzer is used to indicate the Obstacle detaction. A buck converter is used to give power to microcontroller.

LCD Display 16*2 is used to show the movement status of seeding robot either it is moving forward, left,right or in backware direction. Another LCD is used to show the output voltage of Charge controller.

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Final Deliverable of the Project

Hardware System

Type of Industry

Agriculture

Technologies

Robotics

Sustainable Development Goals

No Poverty, Decent Work and Economic Growth

Required Resources

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