A Novel Unmanned Ground Vehicle-Based Soil Sampling System for High-Precision Soil Moisture Monitoring

Abstract This article presents the design, development, and evaluation of a novel soil sampling device embedded on a fully autonomous unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), called AgriOne. The novel contribution stems initially from the design of an autonomous soil sampling device based on the TEROS 12 soil moisture sensor that allows an in situ soil moisture measurement. Furthermore, the proposed system integrates a linear actuator-driven manipulator to ensure precise sensor penetration while addressing terrain variability. The second contribution stems from the novel design and field evaluation of a surface-aware data collection framework that has the capability to automate measurement validation while enhancing data reliability by filtering erroneous readings due to inadequate soil penetration. The coupling of the soil sampling device with the fully autonomous UGV creates a novel system that can speed up soil sampling procedures, while allowing repeatability and generalization of this method in various fields. The validity of the proposed framework has been extensively evaluated by multiple field experiments conducted in diverse terrains to demonstrate the general robustness of the system when operating in heterogeneous soil conditions.