Autonomous seed-planting vehicle

This project aimed to construct and operate a vehicle capable of movement on land while planting seeds at equal spacing. The project used an optical flow sensor, Optical Flow V1.0, for tracking distance movement, and an electronic compass, LSM9DS0 for tracking the vehicle heading. The vehicle made use of a differential drive system to move and navigate itself through a field. A seed-planting mechanism was mounted on the vehicle which enabled it to plant seeds. This mechanism included a garden seeder with a motor coupled to it. The system was controlled by a dsPIC30f4013 microcontroller board, and PID Control was implemented for the motor control of the vehicle. Results show that the vehicle was able to move in its desired path, but the path tracked by the system may differ from the actual physical path due to inaccuracies of the sensors.