Data acquisition from greenhouses by using autonomous mobile robot

Abstract

In this study, it is aimed to monitor and control the plant production in greenhouses, and increase the efficiency of greenhouses by doing interdisciplinary research in the fields of agriculture, electronics, robotics, and data mining. In the small and outnumbered greenhouses used by farmers, to collect data using static sensor systems is both costly and impractical. In this study, an autonomous mobile robot has been developed and used to collect information from the greenhouse and mapping the greenhouse. By using the autonomous mobile robot, that is designed and produced for the project needs, sensory data such as, RGB-D map of the greenhouse, moisture, temperature, and light, were obtained. As well as the mobile robot could autonomously navigate in the greenhouse, it can be manually controlled by an operator. On the robot, robot operating system (ROS) is used. By using RGB-D mapping and SLAM packages in the ROS, robot can find its position in the greenhouse can measure the temperature, the moisture, and the light density of this location, and generates a three dimensional map of the greenhouse. In this study, data about how it changed the greenhouse environment and the plants grown in the greenhouse was obtained with measurements made at regular intervals of time. The next step of this study is process the data gathered by the robot in real time to get information such as the number of the crops, the phonological phase of the crops or condition of the greenhouse.