Design and field evaluation of a ground robot for high-throughput phenotyping of energy sorghum

Sierra N Young,Joshua M Peschel,Erkan Kayacan

doi:10.1007/s11119-018-9601-6

Abstract

This article describes the design and field evaluation of a low-cost, high-throughput phenotyping robot for energy sorghum for use in biofuel production. High-throughput phenotyping approaches have been used in isolated growth chambers or greenhouses, but there is a growing need for field-based, precision agriculture techniques to measure large quantities of plants at high spatial and temporal resolutions throughout a growing season. A low-cost, tracked mobile robot was developed to collect phenotypic data for individual plants and tested on two separate energy sorghum fields in Central Illinois during summer 2016. Stereo imaging techniques determined plant height, and a depth sensor measured stem width near the base of the plant. A data capture rate of 0.4 ha, bi-weekly, was demonstrated for platform robustness consistent with various environmental conditions and crop yield modeling needs, and formative human–robot interaction observations were made during the field trials to address usability. This work is of interest to researchers and practitioners advancing the field of plant breeding because it demonstrates a new phenotyping platform that can measure individual plant architecture traits accurately (absolute measurement error at 15% for plant height and 13% for stem width) over large areas at a sub-daily frequency; furthermore, the design of this platform can be extended for phenotyping applications in maize or other agricultural row crops.

Highlights

This paper presents the design and field investigation of a mobile high-throughput phenotyping robot “TERRA-MEPP” (Transportation Energy Resource from Renewable Agriculture Mobile Energy-crop Phenotyping Platform) for deployment in energy1 3 Vol.:(0123456789)Precision Agriculture (2019) 20:697–722 sorghum
Indoor phenotyping is effective for individual plants produced in a controlled environment, but field-based phenotyping provides an expanded realistic set of phenotypic data from crops grown in actual environmental conditions (Fuglie and Heisey 2007; White et al 2012)
The results indicate that the algorithms achieve 13% average absolute error for stem width estimation and 15% average absolute error for plant height estimation

Summary

Introduction

This paper presents the design and field investigation of a mobile high-throughput phenotyping robot “TERRA-MEPP” (Transportation Energy Resource from Renewable Agriculture Mobile Energy-crop Phenotyping Platform) for deployment in energy1 3 Vol.:(0123456789)Precision Agriculture (2019) 20:697–722 sorghum (see Fig. 1). High-throughput phenotyping technologies have been implemented for isolated growth chambers or greenhouses (Batz et al 2016); there is an emerging need for field-based platforms to measure large quantities of plants exposed to natural climates throughout a growing season (Fiorani and Tuberosa 2013; Furbank 2009). A mobile sensory platform for automated phenotyping data collection in the field would increase the throughput for screening energy sorghum compared to traditional approaches, such as manual measurements by technicians (Cornelissen et al 2003). Developments in automation, imaging and software solutions have enabled high-throughput phenotyping studies in controlled environments, such as greenhouses and laboratories, (Cobb et al 2013; Cabrera-Bosquet et al 2012), which utilize stationary measurement devices to either manually or automatically phenotype individual plants. Experimental and commercial high-throughput field-based technologies that leverage remote and near sensing allow for the collection of large amounts of plant data without extracting plants from their natural environment (Virlet et al 2016)

Methods

Results

Conclusion