Development of an Irrigation Mobile Robot for Soil Water Control to Individual Plants

An irrigation mobile robot was developed and tested for saving labor and automatic soil water control. The robot was consisted of a running unit, a control unit and an irrigation unit. Soil moisture was measured by the electrical resistance sensor which was attached to the mobile arm with irrigation nozzle. The infrared reflectors which were recognized by the infrared sensors of the robot indicated the measurable and irrigable positions of individual plants. The robot was programmed to repeat following operations : 1. Move the robot to the position of the infrared reflector; 2. Insert the soil moisture sensor into the soil, and measure the soil moisture; 3. If the measurement value of the soil moisture was less than the value of satisfied soil moisture, then irrigate the soil. The result of performance tests showed that the robot could control the soil moisture near by individual plants automatically. It was estimated that 4 sets of the robot could control the soil moisture in greenhouse muskmelon cultivation having 1000 m2 floor area.