Smart and Autonomous Farm Field Scouting Service Robot As an Edge Device Under $1000: Challenges and Opportunities

Smart farming focuses on the application of intelligent and autonomous machines to make agricultural production more effective. The development of Agriculture Unmanned Ground Vehicle (AUGV) makes it possible to utilize smart, small, intelligent robots in agriculture. Even existing AUGVs have been used in many fields, their disadvantages have limited the promotion of current AUGV system. Based on the demands of farmers, a new Low Cost Smart Agriculture Unmanned Ground Vehicle (LCS-AUGV) system is proposed. The challenges and opportunities of LCS-AUGV are discussed, and the frame work of LCS-AUGV is designed. The designed LCS-AUGV includes two subsystems: Unmanned Ground Vehicle System (UGVS) and Remote Control System (RCS), and diagrams of each subsystem are designed and described in detail. The measuring and control system (MCS) of LCS-AUGV is designed, and hierarchical structure is introduced into MCS. The new MCS principle can add or remove super information center easily, thus the high performance and low cost of the system can be taken into account. Based on the proposed MCS, a five-level control strategy is designed. The designed control strategy includes Basic Level Control (BLC), Low Level Control (HLC), Super Level Control (SLC), Agriculture Mission Based Control (AMBC). A LCS-AUGV platform is built at the basis of the designed frame work, and the cost analysis is performed. According to the analysis, the hardware cost can be controlled below $1000, while most super function can be realized. The typical applications also are described. LCS-AUGV provides an ideal platform for most smart farming tasks and is easily to be accepted by farmers. The LCS-AUGV also can be used in high level intelligence agriculture field, and be selected as a new algorithm’s research platform.