Robotic Automation System for Indoor Greenhouse Applications

As the world advances, the global population is projected to reach an estimated 9 billion by 2050, leading to a higher demand for food. To boost agricultural production without harming the environment, new and sustainable technologies are essential for improving efficiency and output. Precision farming has existed for years, but as its efficiency improves, scalability on large farms has emerged as a significant challenge. This project proposes using a mobile robotic system that can be deployed in existing greenhouses with minor changes and little additional infrastructure to assist current laborers in the agricultural sector. This paper would focus on the development and early onsite testing of the proposed robot in an indoor greenhouse environment. The robot successfully interacted with plants in 105 out of 135 test runs in a laboratory setting giving a success rate of 75.5%. Onsite testing where done with similar configurations to the laboratory settings to identify potential problems in a different environment.