INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT) BASED MULTIPURPOSE MOBILE ROBOT FOR FARMING IN INDIAN ENVIRONMENT (I- FARMER)

摘要

In this patent, we invented a multipurpose agriculture mobile robot that can be monitored through GPS via IoT and controlled by NI- myRIO, an integrated FPGA controller. This mobile robot has been built with novel seeding mechanism and also integrated with intelligent fertilizer/pesticide sprayer mechanism. This system was developed by considering the Indian style of farming and automated the seeding mechanism with IoT based tracking. This system is affordable, fully automatic, requires very limited manpower and can be operated by anyone. Since the mobile robot is expected to travel in different terrains, it was fitted with rocker bogie mechanism which is capable of adapting all the terrains. The mobile robot has 6 wheels, each of them has fitted and driven with 10rpm, 12kg-cm torque DC geared motors and are battery powered. The seeding mechanism consists of two servo controlled 2 DoF robotic arm which is also unique in its single support design. The arm will dig small amount of ploughed loose soil and refills the same place after seeding. The seeds are dropped through a servo valve mechanism and coordinated between the robotic arm™s dig and refill motion. Subsequently, the attached sprayer will moist the soil after seeding. The system also offers the flexibility to change the distance between seeding positions. In addition, the sprayer can also be programmed to spray controlled amount of fertiliser/ pesticide on each bush plants and thereby avoiding the spillage and human intervention in handling pesticides. More importantly, it is energy efficient, very low in cost and can be easily used by layman as compared to any other product available in the market.