Exploring Robots and UAVs as Phenotyping Tools in Plant Breeding

Abstract

Recent advances in robot and sensor technology makes it possible to survey a large number of plants in a non destructive and cost efficient way. The present research approach includes measurements with VIS/NIR multispectral camera mounted on UAV and robot and traditional manual ground measurements. The analysis presented here, aims (1) to evaluate the use of multispectral imaging from drone and robot as phenotyping tools, (2) to compare images from drone and robot to see how they can complement each other for an optimized analysis of the plants and (3) to study the reflectance response of various plant species exposed to two different regimes of fertilizers. The sensors on UAVs provide a unique perspective of the growth of the plants revealing the map of the variations within the field of study.