Auto recognition of navigation path for harvest robot based on machine vision

Abstract

An algorithm of generating navigation path in orchard for harvesting robot based on machine vision was presented. According to the features of orchard images, a horizontal projection method was adopted to dynamically recognize the main trunks area. Border crossing points between the tree and the earth were detected by scanning the trunks areas, and these points were divided into two clusters on both sides. Resorting to least-square fitting, two border lines were extracted. The central clusters were gained by the two lines and this straight line was regarded as the navigation path.Matlab simulation result shows that the algorithm could effectively extract navigation path in complex orchard environment, and correct recognition rate was 91.7%. The method is proved to be stable and reliable, and with the deviation rate of simulation navigation angle compared with the artificial recognition angle is around 2%. © 2011 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.