ASABE Technical Library - Abstract

Abstract. Agribusinesses are looking for a sustainable way to increase the agronomic output, deal with herbicide resistant weeds that have shown up in many areas of the country over the last two decades, and defend the crop from yield reducing diseases, all in order to meet the predicted increased demand for food production due to an increasing world population and increased standard of living while suitable land area and water availability is decreasing. One of the solutions is to maximize sunlight conversion to plant material via relay intercropping of suitable crops and deploy small autonomous vehicles, which compact the soil much less, and traverse the field continuously during most of the growing season, first to plant the crop, then subsequently to perform the tasks of mechanical weed removal and scouting for diseases. This paper discusses the contextual requirements for a constantly roving autonomous vehicle as it performs the crop care tasks including seeding, mechanical weeding, scouting for crop diseases and nutrient deficiencies, diagnosing, and potential delivery of a prescription to remedy the detected issue.