Development of Autonomous Robot To Perform Multiple Tasks in Agricultural Fields

Robotics and mechatronics have been used in many arenas, one of which is the agricultural industry. Using robotic-based machines in agriculture will become common in the future. However, these machines are not affordable for farmers in a country like India. This creates a need of developing a low-cost multi-tasking robot to work in agricultural fields. An attempt has been made to develop such a robot that can greatly help farmers to achieve efficient farming. The robot can perform four modes of operation. One is the navigation of the robot based on a defined path provided by the user. The Second mode of operation is acquiring the data on moisture, temperature, pH level, and NPK (nitrogen, potassium, and Calcium) level of the soil. The third mode of operation is digging the soil and plantation of the seeds or saplings and the final mode is sprinkling of water as per the soil condition. The device is designed, constructed, and validated on the laboratory scale with considerable accuracy.