Relative Position Estimation of a Mobile Robot in a Greenhouse Pathway

Abstract

Activities involved in a greenhouse like follow-up, spraying, collection are unsanitary to be made by humans. Excess temperatures and the use of heavy machinery makes working conditions difficult and tedious. The present prospective is to reduce human involvement and introduce mobile robots to undertake the suspended tasks. In the unstructured environments of greenhouses, such robot applications demand a high degree of system autonomy. These environments and their sensor signatures are hardly to be known a priori at the design time of the robot. Therefore, it is a requisite for these robots to incorporate navigation capabilities so as to perform in unknown environments. A foundamental of this skills is relative position estimation because it allows to address issues concerning mobility such as planning efficient routes and prevent the robot losing track of its position relative to the rest of the environment. The aim of this report is to demonstrate a technique which can give a mobile robot the ability to keep track of its relative position within pathways in a greenhouse.