LIDAR-based autonomous navigation method for an agricultural mobile robot in strawberry greenhouse: AgriEco Robot

Abstract

This paper presents an autonomous navigation method for an agricultural mobile robot "AgriEco Robot", with four-wheel-drive and embedded perception sensors. The proposed method allows an accurate guidance between strawberry crop rows while automatically spraying pesticides, as well as detecting the end and switching to the next rows. The main control system was developed using Robot Operating System (ROS) based on a 2D LIDAR sensor. The acquired 2D point clouds data is processed to estimate the robot's heading and lateral offset relative to crop rows. A motion controller is incorporated to ensure the developed autonomous navigation method. Performance in terms of accuracy of the autonomous navigation has been evaluated in real-world conditions within strawberry greenhouses, proving its usefulness for automatic pesticide spraying.