Autonomous Farming Robot

Abstract

Pakistan's farming industry has significant problems, including low yields and inefficient use of essential resources such as water, fertilizer, and pesticides. In this era of modern technology, conventional methods of farming are unable to fulfil the agricultural demands in its respective time. Smart Farming is developing towards digitalized and data-driven operations, advanced decision support systems, smart analyses, and planning, among others. Agriculture is a perfect niche for innovations in the sphere of robotics. In this research microcontroller-based Autonomous Farming Robot is developed, that would allow farmers to use resources such as water and seeds more effectively and efficiently. Robot structure is modeled in AutoCAD software and has been constructed using wood and steel pipes. Further, different components like sensors, stepper motors and its drivers, DC motor and its driver, solenoid valve, water pump and relay module have been mounted on the robot structure and interfaced with ARM microcontroller. Three-dimensional movement inside the robot is added using stepper motor, so that robot can cover a large area and thus speed of work can be enhanced. In addition, a Web based Graphical User Interface (GUI) is designed using webserver controller, which provides a graphical assistance to users so that they can monitor the sensor data and operate the robot wirelessly with their own desired strategy of plantation. The system has been tested using coriander seeds on the soil bed and from the experimental results, it is found that designed system can execute complex tasks such as precise distribution of seeds, soil bed preparation, watering and monitoring agricultural parameters like temperature, humidity, and moisture appropriately.