Design and Performance Test of Autonomous Precision Spraying Robot for Cabbage Cultivation

Pest control in cabbage cultivation generally using pesticides by spraying all areas of cabbage plantation by using a backpack sprayer (knapsack sprayer, semi-automatic sprayer, or electric sprayer). This type of sprayer has difficult to set a consistent spraying duration on each cabbage which affects the accuracy of its application dosage, inconsistence spray pressure affects the droplets produced, and also backpack sprayers can cause injury and harm the health of farmers. This research was conducted to design and analyze an autonomous robot that can precisely spray pesticide on cabbage with appropriate spraying position, droplets diameter, and application dosage. The robot can run straight along the cabbage beds using a wall-follower method and successfully detect and spray pesticide solution on each cabbage by using machine vision with an accuracy of 88% and 80% accuracy of spraying position. The application dosage (L/ha) produced by the robot can approach the reference value compared with the farmer.