Design & implementation of a line following robot for irrigation based application

Abstract

The agriculture sector is the backbone of an economy which provides the basic ingredients to mankind and raw materials for industrialization. With the increasing number of the population over the world, the demand for agricultural products is also increased. In order to increase the production rate, irrigation technique should be more efficient. The irrigation techniques used till date are not in satisfactory level, especially in a developing country like Bangladesh. This paper has proposed a line follower robot for irrigation based application which may be considered as a cost-effective solution by minimizing water loss as well as an efficient system for irrigation purposes. This proposed system does not require an operator to accomplish its task. This gardening robot is completely portable and is equipped with a microcontroller, an on-board water reservoir, and an attached water pump. The area to be watered by the robot can be any field with plants, placed in a predefined path. It is capable of comparing movable objects and stationary plants to minimize water loss and finally watering them autonomously without any human intervention. The designed robot was tested and it performed nicely.