Zigbee Based Navigation of an Agricultural Robot Using Track Planning and Shape Recognizing Algorithm

Food production must increase dramatically due to a growing world population. Automation in robotic vehicles has a key role to play in improving farm productivity in agriculture field. Developing a robot capable of automatic ploughing saves time and increases accuracy. The zigbee based navigation will drive the ploughing robot to a desired direction, angle or degree to take turn in both forward and reverse direction in a particular track using vision based track planning and shape recognizing algorithm. A track is pre-planned and boundary points are marked in irregular agricultural land. Initially, the even areas of the land and the remaining uneven areas are marked into different sections. The robot vehicle will take a necessary turn when a bund (an obstacle) is detected by an obstacle sensor. The robotic vehicle will capture the image of an agricultural area in top view with the help of Wireless Camera which is mounted on the Vehicle Robot. By processing, vision-based track planning and shape recognising algorithm on the captured images, the accurate real time navigation of the robotic vehicle in a particular track on agricultural soil is achieved. A ploughing module on the rear end of the robot chassis enclosed with a ploughing arm and a ploughing tiller is attached which tills the soil to a reasonable amount of depth. Thereby, it reduces man power and time in ploughing the whole agricultural field.