Vine Trunk Detector for a Reliable Robot Localization System

Develop ground robots for crop monitoring and harvesting in steep slope vineyards is a complex challenge due to two main reasons: harsh condition of the terrain and unstable localization accuracy got from Global Positioning Systems (GPS). For this context, a reliable localization system requires a high density of natural/artificial features and an accurate detector. This paper presents a novel visual detector for Vineyards Trunks and Masts (ViTruDe). The ViTruDe detector was developed considering the constrains of a cost-effective robot to carry-out crop monitoring tasks in steep slope vineyard environment. The obtained results with real data shows an accuracy higher than 95% for all tested configurations. The training and test data are made public for future research work. This approach is a contribution for an accurate and reliable localization system that is GPS-free.