In developed agricultural countries, robots seem to have begun to become a new trend in the intelligent era. Many farms around the world are using robots that are much more efficient than farm workers.
An agricultural robot is a machine that is used in agricultural production. It can be controlled by different program software to adapt to various operations. It can sense and adapt to crop types or environmental changes, and has detection capabilities. A new generation of unmanned automatic operating machinery based on artificial intelligence (such as vision, etc.) and calculation.
1. Development
After the emergence of agricultural robots, they have developed rapidly. Many countries have developed various types of agricultural robots in the research and development of agricultural robots. Japan currently ranks first among all countries in the world. After entering the 21st century, new multi-functional agricultural robots have been increasingly widely used, and intelligent robots will increasingly replace manual labor in completing various agricultural tasks in vast fields. The second agricultural revolution will develop in depth. . Different from industrial robots, it is a new type of multi-functional agricultural machinery. The widespread application of agricultural robots has changed the traditional agricultural labor method, reduced farmers' labor force, and promoted the development of modern agriculture.
2. Classification
1. Fertilizer robot
Researchers from an agricultural machinery company in Minnesota, USA, have launched a unique robot. Based on the actual conditions of the soil, fertilize appropriately. Its accurate calculation reasonably reduces the total amount of fertilizer and reduces agricultural costs. Thanks to scientific fertilization, groundwater quality has been improved.
2. Field weeding robot
German agricultural experts used the comprehensive technology of computers, global positioning systems (GPS) and smart multi-purpose tractors to develop a robot that can accurately apply herbicides for weeding. . First, agricultural workers lead the robot through the fields. When it reaches a plot with many weeds, the GPS receiver on it will display a coordinate positioning map to determine the location of the weeds. Agricultural workers first input this information into a portable computer in sequence on the spot, and then input the above information and data into a computer on the tractor after returning to the field. When they drive the tractor into the fields for farming in the future, the weeding robot will closely monitor the travel position. If it comes to a weedy area, the corresponding part of its onboard stick sprayer activates immediately, allowing chemical herbicides to be sprayed exactly where needed.
3. Vegetable field weeding robot
The vegetable field weeding robot developed by British scientists uses a camera and a computer combination device that recognizes images of weeds, vegetables and soil. , using camera scanning and computer image analysis to advance weeding operations step by step. It can operate continuously around the clock and does not cause erosion or damage to the soil during weeding. Scientists are also preparing to study matching weeding machinery to replace herbicides on this basis. Harvesting Robot The American New Holland Agricultural Machinery Company invested US$2.5 million to develop a multi-purpose automated combine harvesting robot. The famous robotics expert Red Whitaker presided over the design work. He has successfully created a robot that can be used to monitor ground distortion, A dedicated space shuttle robot that predicts earthquakes and detects signs of volcanic eruptions. The fully automatic combine harvesting robot developed by Whittaker is very suitable for harvesting crops in large and well-planned farmland in some exclusive farming areas in the United States. The yield of some of these high-yield fields is more than ten times that of ordinary farmland.
4. Citrus-picking robot
This robot invented by Spanish technicians consists of a tractor equipped with a computer, an optical vision system and a manipulator. It can pick oranges from The size, shape and color are used to determine whether the fruit is ripe and whether it can be picked. It works extremely fast, picking 60 citrus per minute while only about 8 can be picked by hand. In addition, the citrus-picking robot can immediately sort the picked citrus by size through its manipulator equipped with a video camera.
5. Mushroom picking robot
The UK is a country rich in mushrooms in the world, and mushroom cultivation has become the second-ranked horticultural crop. According to statistics, the annual manual mushroom picking volume is 110,000 tons, which is very profitable.
In order to increase the speed of picking and gradually relieve people from this heavy agricultural work, the British Silsol Agricultural Machinery Research Institute developed a mushroom picking robot. It is equipped with cameras and visual image analysis software to identify the quantity and grade of mushrooms picked, thereby determining operational procedures. After an infrared rangefinder onboard the mushroom-picking robot determines the height of the mushrooms, the vacuum handle will automatically extend to the picking site, bend and twist as needed, and put the picked mushrooms in time to follow. in the transport aircraft. It can pick 40 mushrooms per minute, twice as fast as manual picking.
6. Fruit sorting robot
In agricultural production, sorting and classifying various fruits is an essential farm work, which often requires a large amount of labor. Researchers from the British Silso Agricultural Machinery Research Institute have developed a fruit sorting robot with a sturdy, durable and easy-to-operate structure, thus automating fruit sorting. It uses a photoelectric image recognition and lifting sorting mechanical combination device, which can work in humid and muddy environments. It can distinguish large tomatoes and small cherries, and then sort them for shipment. It can also classify potatoes of different sizes. And it will not scratch the skin of the fruit.
7. Tomato Harvesting Robot
In view of the characteristic that ripe tomato fruits are red, the Japanese tomato harvesting robot uses a color CCD camera as a visual sensor to distinguish fruits, stems and leaves based on RGB components. .
8. Strawberry picking robot
Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Institute has invented a robot that can pick strawberries. The robot is equipped with a set of cameras that can accurately capture the location of strawberries, and supporting software can ensure that the robot picks ripe strawberries based on the redness of the strawberries. Although this robot can currently only pick strawberries, the program can be modified to allow the robot to pick other fruits, such as grapes and tomatoes. It takes 9 seconds for the robot to pick a strawberry. If used on a large scale and the picking efficiency can be maintained, it can save farmers 40% of their picking time.
3. Why did agricultural robots appear?
In countries such as the United States and Japan, agricultural workers rarely speak out. With the scale, diversification, and precision of agriculture, labor shortages have The phenomenon is becoming more and more obvious. In reality, many work projects are labor-intensive work. Coupled with seasonal requirements, labor shortages are serious. In order to solve this problem, agricultural robots came into being.
4. Characteristics of agricultural robots
◆ (1) Delicacy of agricultural robots’ working objects
Living things are weak and easily injured and must be handled carefully and gently Treat and handle. Moreover, they have many types, complex shapes, varying degrees of growth and development in three-dimensional space, and are very different from each other.
◆ (2) The unstructured working environment of agricultural robots
Since agricultural crops change with time and space, the working environment of robots is changing and unknown. , is an open environment. In addition to being constrained by terrain conditions such as garden land and slope, the crop growth environment is also directly affected by natural conditions such as season, atmosphere, and time. This requires biological agricultural robots not only to have processing capabilities corresponding to the flexibility of living organisms, but also to be able to adapt to the changing natural environment. Agricultural robots are required to have considerable intelligence in terms of vision, knowledge reasoning and judgment.
◆ (3) Complexity of agricultural robot operation movements
Agricultural robots generally operate and move at the same time. Walking in the agricultural field is not the shortest distance connecting the starting point and the end point. It has the characteristics of narrow range, long distance and covering the entire field surface.
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◆ (4) Users of agricultural robots
Users of agricultural robots are farmers, not engineers with mechanical and electronic knowledge, so agricultural robots are required The robot must be highly reliable and easy to operate.
(5) Price characteristics of agricultural robots
The large investment required for industrial robots is paid by factories or industrial groups, while agricultural robots are mainly self-employed. If the price is not low, it will It is difficult to popularize.
Using robots in agricultural production has many benefits: it can improve labor productivity; solve the problem of labor shortage; improve the safety and health environment of agricultural producers; improve the quality of operations, etc.
5. Current Development Status of Agricultural Harvest Robots
After the emergence of agricultural robots, they have developed rapidly. Many countries have developed multiple types of agricultural robots in the research and development of agricultural robots. Nowadays, new multi-functional agricultural robots are increasingly widely used, and intelligent robots will increasingly replace humans in completing various agricultural tasks in vast fields.
◆ 1. Current status of foreign agricultural machinery
At present, research on fruit and vegetable harvesting robots in various agricultural developed countries has made great progress, but there is still a long way to go before practicality and commercialization. some distance. France is one of the first countries to research fruit harvesting robots. Japan has made rapid progress in research on harvesting robots in recent years, but has not yet been able to achieve commercialization. The Netherlands is also ahead of many other countries in its research on harvesting robots, but there are not many types of fruits and vegetables studied.
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The main reasons why harvesting robots have not yet been truly applied are:
1) The recognition rate and picking rate of fruits are not high, and the damage rate is relatively high. Large;
2) The average fruit picking cycle is longer;
3) The manufacturing cost of harvesting robots is high.
◆ 2. Current situation of domestic agricultural machinery
Our country is a developing agricultural country, and agricultural issues have always been fundamental issues related to our country’s economic and social development.
However, there is still a certain gap between my country's agricultural robots and foreign countries in terms of accuracy, efficiency and stability.
With the application of new agricultural production models and new technologies, robots will be increasingly used in agricultural production. The use of robots in agriculture is a new way to qualitatively improve labor productivity and is also a symbol of the technological development of agricultural machinery products.
However, due to the seasonality of agricultural production, the price of agricultural products, and the complexity of agricultural operations, high requirements have been placed on the cost performance and intelligence of agricultural robots, which has become a bottleneck restricting the research and application of agricultural robots. Therefore, agricultural robot technology will be one of the key research contents in the new century.