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Collaborative project: Christmas tree robot. Autonomous robot platform for planting, care and long-term mapping of Christmas tree cultures (WeBaRo) – subproject 3 (WeBaRo)
Project
Project code: 2818503C18
Contract period: 01.01.2020
- 31.12.2022
Budget: 158,778 Euro
Purpose of research: Experimental development
Keywords: digital world, information-communicationtechnology, sustainability, weed, forestry, silviculture, farmyard manure, other coniferous wood
Conventional Christmas tree cultivation is very labour-intensive and is also characterised by a high use of pesticides during rearing. In terms of sustainable and economic cultivation, both factors can be seen as a major challenge. In order to meet these challenges, the WeBaRo project is developing and testing a cost-effective, autonomous robot carrier platform that enables resource-saving, efficient Christmas tree cultivation. The carrier platform will be equipped with exchangeable, field-tested attachments so that activities can be carried out automatically and autonomously throughout the entire rearing process. A swing arm mulcher will be used for mechanical weed control. This substitutes the use of total herbicides and saves labour costs for manual weed control. In addition, a device for single plant fertilisation can be attached to the platform for targeted and economical fertiliser application. For planting the seedlings, the platform is equipped with a planting hole drill. The exact position of the planting holes is calculated area-specifically by an algorithm; these can then be drilled georeferenced to the nearest centimetre. As a result of this procedure, a virtual map with georeferenced tree positions is created - the basis for satellite-controlled navigation in all further autonomous work in the crop. In order to increase the robustness of the navigation, additional 3D sensors are used. The plant data collected by the sensor package during robot operation are added to each plant in the virtual map as meta information. These data can not only be used by the grower for (online) marketing; they also form the basis for the development of a deep-learning based system for monitoring the health status and classifying the trees.
Section overview
Subjects
- Horticulture
- Resource management
- Computer science
