Robots in Training To Make Life Easier on the Farm

Researchers at NC State University are developing robotic systems to automate labor-intensive tasks in vegetable production, including staking, monitoring, and harvesting crops such as tomatoes and peppers.

These vital vegetable crops often need stakes and twine to prevent plants from collapsing as they grow, a process that involves driving large numbers of stakes into the soil and repeatedly adding twine layers during the season. According to horticultural sciences Professor Emmanuel Torres, this work represents a substantial cost and is increasingly difficult to staff.

To address this, Torres and Andrea Monteza, Makerspace Director at the N.C. The Plant Sciences Initiative is developing autonomous robotic tools. One prototype, called “Thor,” is designed to hammer stakes into the ground at consistent spacing while avoiding crop damage. The robot operates on a self-driving platform equipped with stereo cameras and LiDAR sensors to map fields and navigate uneven terrain.

“It’s like how a Roomba uses cameras and sensors to create a floor plan of your house,” Torres says.

---

RELATED CONTENT: What’s Trending in the Next Wave of Farm Robotics

---

To support machine learning for these systems, the team created a separate imaging tool known as “Hawkeye.” Mounted on a tractor, the platform uses high-resolution cameras to collect top-down and side-view images of crops. During field trials last summer, the system captured around 50,000 images of tomato plants, which will be used to train algorithms to distinguish crops from weeds and other field objects.

With funding support from the N.C. General Assembly-funded Ag Analytics Platform and USDA, the researchers say the same imaging approach could later be applied to crop scouting. Potential uses include identifying pest pressure, disease symptoms, or nutrient deficiencies without manual field walks.

“We’re trying to make tools that are flexible enough for multiple potential uses,” Monteza says.

For more, continue reading at cals.ncu.edu.