Abstract
The productivity of greenhouses highly depends on the environmental conditions of crops, such as temperature and humidity. The control and monitoring might need large sensor networks, and as a consequence, mobile sensory systems might be a more suitable solution. This paper describes the application of a heterogeneous robot team to monitor environmental variables of greenhouses. The multi-robot system includes both ground and aerial vehicles, looking to provide flexibility and improve performance. The multi-robot sensory system measures the temperature, humidity, luminosity and carbon dioxide concentration in the ground and at different heights. Nevertheless, these measurements can be complemented with other ones (e.g., the concentration of various gases or images of crops) without a considerable effort. Additionally, this work addresses some relevant challenges of multi-robot sensory systems, such as the mission planning and task allocation, the guidance, navigation and control of robots in greenhouses and the coordination among ground and aerial vehicles. This work has an eminently practical approach, and therefore, the system has been extensively tested both in simulations and field experiments.
Highlights
Agriculture and technology have evolved together, creating a close relationship throughout history
This paper proposes a multi-robot system to measure the environmental variables of interest in greenhouses
The robot team consists of a ground robot, which provides the fleet with autonomy and robustness, and an aerial robot, which contributes to the team with agility and speed
Summary
Agriculture and technology have evolved together, creating a close relationship throughout history. The technological advances of every period have been applied to this activity. Some examples are the use of animals in the neolithic period, the evolution of irrigation systems and the mechanization in the industrial revolution. The application of technologies, such as automation, robotics and computing, is transforming agriculture. Two examples are precision agriculture, which takes into account the spatial and temporal variability of crops to apply more targeted treatments, improving production and taking care of the environment [1], and technological greenhouse farming, which involves the control of the environment to provide the crops with optimal conditions for growth and maturation. This paper is focused on greenhouse farming, which is especially receptive to new technologies
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