Development of a robotic agricultural machine for broadcast sowing of crop seeds

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For the agro-industrial complex (AIC), the growth of grain production is of great importance today. An important technological operation in obtaining crop production is sowing [1]. Seeders for sowing grain crops produced by industry and used in most cases in farms are equipped mainly with two-disc coulters. As a result of the adhesion of moist soil to the surface of the disc coulters, the shape of the groove changes, a pre-coulter hill is formed, which eventually leads to a violation of the agrotechnical requirements for mechanized sowing of crops. The quality of the work performed deteriorates, due to the friction of the resulting soil, on the disc coulter, a significant increase in traction resistance is observed on the soil, and at high soil moisture rates, sowing is practically impossible.  
Specialists in our country and abroad have proposed various ways to solve this problem.  For example, in [2], to improve the quality of sowing crops on moist soils, it is proposed to add a chisel and a rack with a counter and a reflector to the design of a two-disc coulter. Of course, this design of the coulter significantly increases the traction resistance, although it allows you to improve the quality of sowing seeds. In [3], it is proposed to introduce cleaners into the design of the disc coulter to remove moist soil from its surface. The method [4] for cleaning disc coulters from soil consists of a cast nylon ring mounted on a support roller in the upper part of the disc coulter. The ring has contact with one side of the cutting edge of the disc, and many assembly units are needed for its proper operation. The addition of additional parts to the structure of the working body leads to an increase in metal consumption and costs for the production of a disc coulter [5]. Also, to solve this issue of soil sticking of the working bodies of the seeder, it was proposed to carry out sowing in a scatter method, replacing the coulters with a disk spreader. There are various devices for sowing seeds of grain crops in a scattered manner [6, 7]. The disadvantage of these devices is not the uniform scattering of seeds over the surface of the field. In addition, it should be noted that taking into account the current pace of development of robotics in agriculture both in our country and around the world, the technological operation – sowing can be fully automated and performed with minimal human participation. It is known that the German company Fendt has developed the Xaver robot for sowing grain crops equipped with a two-disc coulter (Figure 1). The disadvantages of this agricultural machine include a malfunction of the working organs during operation in wet soils, as well as its high cost.

Figure 1 – Xaver seeder robot from the German company Fendt
The purpose of the study
Development of the design of a robotic agricultural machine for the rapid sowing of seeds of agricultural crops, equipped with a disk working organ.
Materials and methods
When developing a robotic agricultural machine, existing designs of various spreading discs for sowing and fertilizing were used as materials for research. Well-known methods of designing and constructing industrial robots were used [8, 9, 10].
Results and discussion
The proposed robotic agricultural machine is designed for multiple sowing of seeds of agricultural crops.
Robotic Agricultural Machine (hereinafter referred to as RSM) (Figure 2) includes frame 1 and four motor wheels 13. In front of frame 1 there is a control unit 2, inside which there is a rechargeable battery to provide current to all electrical devices of the RSM. In the middle part of the frame there is a seed hopper 4 with a lid 5 mounted on support posts 3. The hopper 4 is connected through a seed duct 7 to a disc spreader 14, which is located in the lower part of the frame 1 between the axles of the motor wheels 13. Between the disc spreader 14 and the axis of the front thrusters there is a furrow-forming roller 18 mounted on a holder 17, which is connected to the actuator 16 for the possibility of changing its position in the vertical plane. At the back of the frame 1, hinges 11 are rigidly mounted at the ends to secure the chain bolt 12 to them. Inside the seed duct 7, in its upper part, there is a damper 6, which is powered by a stepper motor 9. A driven belt drive pulley 8 is installed on the lower part of the seed duct 7, the drive of which is shown by the number 10. The hopper 4 is fixed at an angle on the support posts 3 for better seed shedding to the seed duct 7. On the disc spreader 14 there are concave guides 15 along which the seeds are evenly distributed over the surface of the field. The 3D model of the disc spreader and the PCM are shown in Figures 3 and 4. The lid of the seed hopper 5 has a rubber seal, which prevents rain and dust from entering it. It is also possible to install a solar panel in the upper part of the control unit 2 to obtain additional power for the RCM battery pack.
The principle of operation of the RSM is as follows. Before starting work, the furrowing roller 18 is set to the required height using an actuator 16. The disc spreader 14 is actuated through a belt drive 8 by a drive 10, the shaft of which is connected to the drive pulley, and the driven pulley is mounted on the lower part of the seed line 7. Then, after the start of the movement of the PCM, the flap 6 opens inside theThe seed line 7 is driven by 9. Next, the seeds from the hopper 4 enter the seed line 7 and passing through the flap 6 enter the disc spreader 14. After that, the seed material moves along the guides 15 of the disc spreader 14 and falls to the bottom of the grooves formed. Seed sealing takes place with a chain cutter 12, which is located in the rear part of the frame 1. This RSM is equipped with the necessary electronic components (microcontroller, driver, rangefinders, obstacle sensors, etc.) to perform its specified functions in automatic mode with minimal human participation, as well as lighting facilities for night operation.
Recommendations for improving the proposed development in the future. To ensure the safety of the RSM, at the end of the work, it is proposed to provide a special enclosure with automatic gates, which will protect it from climatic effects and unwanted access. It is also possible to equip the robot with a special sound signal that scares away outsiders and a video camera, the image from which can be viewed from a mobile phone from a distance. In addition, you need to take into account the possibility of geolocation of the robot.
In order to prevent various injuries to people, for whatever reason, who find themselves in the area of operation of this machine, it is necessary to comply with the principle of collaboration, i.e. at the development stage it is necessary to provide various sensors, computer vision and stop protective mechanisms capable of detecting human movement. If people find themselves at a certain distance from the trajectory of its movement, the speed decreases to minimum values, or if necessary and the possibility of a collision comes to a complete stop. It is also possible to provide sound and light signals in order to attract attention in order to prevent hitting a person or animal. The general shapes of self-moving robots must be designed to be more streamlined, without any pointed elements that may pose a danger in the event of a collision. It is also recommended to use elastic protective elements on the front of the robot.

Figure 2 – general view of a robotic agricultural machine  

1 – frame; 2 – control unit; 3 – support racks of the seed hopper; 4 – seed hopper; 5 – lid of the seed hopper; 6 – flap; 7 – seed duct; 8 – belt drive; 9 – flap drive; 10 – belt drive; 11 – loop for fastening the chain slide; 12 – chain slide; 13 – motor wheel; 14 – disc spreader; 15 – guides of the disc spreader; 16 – actuator; 17 – holder of the furrowing roller; 18 – furrowing roller.

Figure 3 – 3D model of a disc spreader

Figure 4 – A robotic agricultural machine

Conclusions
The proposed development will make it possible to robotize the sowing of grain crops in a scattered way, which will ensure that this technological operation is performed with minimal human participation, while eliminating various human factors in the work. The cost of maintaining the working staff is also reduced. A working body is proposed – a disk spreader, which, due to its design, will ensure an even distribution of seeds over the surface of the field.

作者简介

Ruslan Notov

编辑信件的主要联系方式.
Email: notovr@inbox.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5855-5963
俄罗斯联邦

参考

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