Novel Design of a Precision Planter for a Robotic Assistant Farmer

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reza Aminzadeh ◽  
Reza Fotouhi
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Robot ◽  
Vertical Force ◽  
Human Labor ◽  
Draft Force ◽  
Limited Power ◽  
Optimum Manner ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Pulling Force ◽  
Soil Bin ◽  
Robotic Assistant

Farming consumes considerable energy, natural resources and intensive human labor. Robotic assisted farmer can make farming activities more precise and more efficient; particularly it may remedy shortage of farmers in the future. A planter is a mechanism which performs precision seeding. Design of a planter in the optimum manner that needs minimum draft force when attached to a mobile robot, was the main objective of this work. A planter was developed, fabricated and tested in the course of a research project. The main motivation for this research is the fact that a mobile robot, is an electric powered vehicle with limited power and pulling force. Thus, a customized planter with a customized connection mechanism should be designed that can be pulled by mobile robot. The developed planter should have the same efficiency as the existing planters in seeding. To study the interaction between soil engagement tool (disc coulter) and soil, experiments were performed in the Linear Soil Bin. Different parameters of the disc coulter were changed and the draft force, vertical force and side force were measured. The results of the experiments were used to find the optimum parameters of the disc that caused minimum draft force. A novel planter was designed and fabricated; it was attached to a mobile robot, and field tested. Tests performed in outdoor and indoor settings showed satisfactory results. Draft force developed on the planter was close to analytical value and performance of the planter in other aspects was as expected.

scholarly journals Innovative Design and Performance Evaluation of Bionic Imprinting Toothed Wheel

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Zhihong Zhang ◽  
Xiaoyang Wang ◽  
Jin Tong ◽  
Carr Stephen
Keyword(s):  
Dung Beetle ◽  
Operating Efficiency ◽  
Outer Contour ◽  
Innovative Design ◽  
Soil Penetration Resistance ◽  
Reduction Property ◽  
Draft Force ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Soil Bin

A highly efficient soil-burrowing dung beetle possesses an intricate outer contour curve on its foreleg end-tooth. This study was carried out based on evidence that this special outer contour curve has the potential of reducing soil penetration resistance and could enhance soil-burrowing efficiency. A toothed wheel is a typical agricultural implement for soil imprinting, to increase its working efficiency; the approach of the bionic geometrical structure was utilized to optimize the innovative shape of imprinting toothed wheel. Characteristics in the dung beetle’s foreleg end-tooth were extracted and studied by the edge detection technique. Then, this special outer contour curve was modeled by a nine-order polynomial function and used for the innovative design of imprinting the tooth’s cutting edge. Both the conventional and bionic teeth were manufactured, and traction tests in a soil bin were conducted. Taking required draft force and volume of imprinted microbasin as the evaluating indexes, operating efficiency and quality of different toothed wheels were compared and investigated. Results indicate that compared with the conventional toothed wheel, a bionic toothed wheel possesses a better forward resistance reduction property against soil and, meanwhile, can enhance the quality of soil imprinting by increasing the volume of the created micro-basin.

scholarly journals Motion Planning and Control of an Omnidirectional Mobile Robot in Dynamic Environments

Robotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Mahmood Reza Azizi ◽  
Alireza Rastegarpanah ◽  
Rustam Stolkin
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Robot ◽  
Collision Avoidance ◽  
Motion Control ◽  
Equations Of Motion ◽  
Dynamic Environments ◽  
Discrete State ◽  
Omnidirectional Mobile Robot ◽  
Planning And Control ◽  
Avoidance Strategy ◽  
And Performance

Motion control in dynamic environments is one of the most important problems in using mobile robots in collaboration with humans and other robots. In this paper, the motion control of a four-Mecanum-wheeled omnidirectional mobile robot (OMR) in dynamic environments is studied. The robot’s differential equations of motion are extracted using Kane’s method and converted to discrete state space form. A nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) strategy is designed based on the derived mathematical model to stabilize the robot in desired positions and orientations. As a main contribution of this work, the velocity obstacles (VO) approach is reformulated to be introduced in the NMPC system to avoid the robot from collision with moving and fixed obstacles online. Considering the robot’s physical restrictions, the parameters and functions used in the designed control system and collision avoidance strategy are determined through stability and performance analysis and some criteria are established for calculating the best values of these parameters. The effectiveness of the proposed controller and collision avoidance strategy is evaluated through a series of computer simulations. The simulation results show that the proposed strategy is efficient in stabilizing the robot in the desired configuration and in avoiding collision with obstacles, even in narrow spaces and with complicated arrangements of obstacles.

Problems of Measuring Workforce Productivity and Performance

10.12737/5786 ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 5-9
Author(s):  
Одегов ◽  
YUriy Odyegov ◽  
Разинов ◽  
A. Razinov
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Economy ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Effi Ciency ◽  
Human Labor ◽  
External Conditions ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Workforce Productivity

Activities of any organization are determined by a set of a range of parameters that are unique for each individual company and aff ect directly or indirectlymanufacture performance indicators. This article discusses the diff erences between categories of «workforce productivity», «labor productiveness», «performance», and «effi ciency»; it analyzes various approaches to these categories depending on the level and measurement tasks. The problem of determining the values of these parameters is directly related to changes in the external conditions of functioning of organizations, primarily the declining share of human labor in production of goods and services. This issue acquires particular importance in view of the changes in nature and content of work and the transition to information society and knowledge economy. According to the authors, an integrated approach is necessary for solving the problem of determining the level of performance.

scholarly journals A Modification Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm for Optimization Problems

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun-Hao Liang ◽  
Ching-Hung Lee
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Robot ◽  
Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm ◽  
Artificial Bee Colony ◽  
Optimization Problems ◽  
Computational Effort ◽  
Function Optimization ◽  
Cooperative Strategy ◽  
Robot System ◽  
Bee Colony ◽  
And Performance

This paper presents a modified artificial bee colony algorithm (MABC) for solving function optimization problems and control of mobile robot system. Several strategies are adopted to enhance the performance and reduce the computational effort of traditional artificial bee colony algorithm, such as elite, solution sharing, instant update, cooperative strategy, and population manager. The elite individuals are selected as onlooker bees for preserving good evolution, and, then, onlooker bees, employed bees, and scout bees are operated. The solution sharing strategy provides a proper direction for searching, and the instant update strategy provides the newest information for other individuals; the cooperative strategy improves the performance for high-dimensional problems. In addition, the population manager is proposed to adjust population size adaptively according to the evolution situation. Finally, simulation results for optimization of test functions and tracking control of mobile robot system are introduced to show the effectiveness and performance of the proposed approach.

Floor to Staircase and Wall Transfer Mobile Robot

2012 ◽  
Vol 433-440 ◽  
pp. 6657-6662
Author(s):  
Lau Wye Hoe ◽  
S. Parasuraman
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Robot ◽  
Obstacle Avoidance ◽  
Vertical Wall ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Design And Development ◽  
Novel Technique ◽  
Human Labor ◽  
Industrial Measurement ◽  
Terrain Surface

The focus of the research is on the design and development of a mobile robot which has the ability to transfer from floor to wall. A novel technique is proposed for Floor-to-Wall Transfer (FWT) robot, which has the capability to move on multi terrain in different surfaces and then able to transfer to the vertical surfaces and perform task such as exploration. The proposed FWT Mobile robot is able to perform navigation such as obstacle avoidance, terrain, capturing videos and pictures across high ceiling, industrial measurement and observation where traditional vehicles or human labor are less feasible to reach. The FWT robot consists of two portions which are the MotherBot and ExplorerBot. While the MotherBot carries the ExplorerBot, it navigates in terrain surface and staircase. ExplorerBot detaches the MotherBot, while MotherBot faces the vertical wall and ExplorerBot drive itself and navigates according to the proposed algorithm. Additional features are added onto the MotherBot and ExplorerBot to perform special tasks such as transferring, navigation, sensing objects etc. Experimental studies are carried out to study the performance of both robots. Comparison between proposed techniques using existing work are discussed and evaluated.

scholarly journals Convolution Accelerator Designs Using Fast Algorithms

Algorithms ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulin Zhao ◽  
Donghui Wang ◽  
Leiou Wang
Keyword(s):  
Power Consumption ◽  
Digital Signal Processor ◽  
Fast Algorithms ◽  
Digital Signal ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Great Success ◽  
Field Programmable ◽  
Limited Power ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Logic Resource

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have achieved great success in image processing. However, the heavy computational burden it imposes makes it difficult for use in embedded applications that have limited power consumption and performance. Although there are many fast convolution algorithms that can reduce the computational complexity, they increase the difficulty of practical implementation. To overcome these difficulties, this paper proposes several convolution accelerator designs using fast algorithms. The designs are based on the field programmable gate array (FPGA) and display a better balance between the digital signal processor (DSP) and the logic resource, while also requiring lower power consumption. The implementation results show that the power consumption of the accelerator design based on the Strassen–Winograd algorithm is 21.3% less than that of conventional accelerators.

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