Autonomous polyculture farming robot

This thesis focuses on the design and development of a three-axis Cartesian robot, TarRob, that has multiple behavioral capabilities and thus can accomplish multiple different tasks associated with the farming of a polyculture garden. In this perspective, the contributions of the thesis are three-fold: First, the robot's hardware and software are overhauled to resolve related problems of the previously developed robot system, as well as forming a robust framework that expands its behavioral capabilities and tasks. Following this, the robot is endowed with the ability to generate a three-dimensional topological garden map. This map is constructed based on the RGB-D data that is acquired by the robot. Finally, a novel navigation algorithm that enables the movement of the robot among the plants is proposed. This algorithm is based on an extension of artificial potential functions to a three-dimensional workspace- considering obstacles modeled as elliptic cylinders. The 3DW-APF Navigation Algorithm is then tested in both simulation environments using real RGB-D data and on TarRob. Performance results demonstrate that TarRob is able to move safely and effectively among plants even as their canopy foliage and heights grow over time.