Advance on Agricultural Robot Hand–Eye Coordination for Agronomic Task: A Review

To address the rising global agricultural labor costs, there is an urgent need for robots to accomplish some complex agronomic tasks and break through the limitations of traditional machinery. Thus, robots are considered an essential support for the future smart agriculture. Given that agronomic targets, such as plants and animals, are living organisms with diverse growth patterns and physical characteristics, effective hand–eye coordination is crucial for robots to interact with these targets proficiently. This paper reviews the developments in hand–eye coordination technology for agricultural robots, focusing on its configuration, principles, and applications in target detection and manipulation, based on a review of research literature and technical specifications of commercial products. Furthermore, the ongoing challenges in hand–eye coordination for robotic operations in complex agronomic tasks are analyzed and summarized, and the potential trends for overcoming these challenges are predicted. Finally, this review aims to deepen understanding of agricultural robots’ capabilities and inspire ongoing innovation to further their agricultural applications.