Agrobot for Inter-Row and Intra-Row Weeding

Strengthening the backbone of small farmers by developing small-sized automated machines will strengthen India as labour is scarce nowadays. Weeds are undesirable plants in a farm that substantially reduce crop yield and quality. Farmers often spend a lot of resources to reduce their impact unsuccessfully. Weed control costs 33% of the total cost of cultivation. Though intra-row weeds are 25% and inter-row weeds are 75% of the total weeds present on the farm, intra-row weeds are more dangerous than inter-row weeds. Also, they are difficult to remove. The proposed autonomous weeder is a prototype model that operates on a rechargeable electric battery. While going through a row, weeds are removed between two rows by flat and sharp blades (inter-row operation) on both sides. Simultaneously photos of space between two crops in one row are captured by the camera. Image processing and classification are done using Raspberry Pi, a machine learning model, and artificial intelligence. The detected weeds are removed by flat and sharp blades weeding tool attached to the mechanical linkage centrally (intra-row operation). Raspberry Pi is also used for controlling the pneumatic actuator, and motor. Testing of the machine in farms is in progress.