DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AUTOMATIC MAIZE SEED

SOWING ROBOT

AYANNIRAN, FELIX OLUWASEUN

MENG/MTE/2019/007
Master of Engineering in Mechatronics Engineering

Thesis submitted to the Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Faculty of

Engineering, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria, in partial
fulfillment of the requirement for the award of Master of Engineering degree
in
Mechatronics Engineering

SEPTEMBER 2021

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 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this project has been written by me and is a record of my own
study work. It has not been presented in any previous application for a higher
degree of this or any other University. All citations and sources of information are
clearly acknowledged by means of references.

______________________________
AYANNIRAN Felix Oluwaseun

___________________________
Date

CERTIFICATION
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This project entitled “design and implementation of automatic maize seed sowing
robot” by F.O. Ayanniran with matriculation number MENG/MTE/2019/007,
meets the regulation governing the award of the degree of Master of Engineering
of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti and is approved for its contribution to
scientific knowledge and literary presentation.

_________________________
_________________________

Engr. Prof. A.A. Adekunle Date

(Supervisor)

_________________________
________________________

Engr. Dr. O.O. Martins Date

(Ag. Head of department, Mechatronics Engineering)

DEDICATION

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This thesis/dissertation is dedicated to both God for His continuous mercy and
favor to start and end this project, to my wife and late mother (of blessed memory)
for their love and encouragement at all times and without whose financial sacrifice
this would not have been possible.

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I give God all the glory, honor and majesty. For in his divine wisdom, will and
power He has given me the opportunity to complete this project work. I am
grateful to my supervisor, Engr. Prof. A. A. Adekunle for using his academic
prowess and wealth of knowledge in guiding and also for his constructive criticism
in the writing of this project. Thanks, for my life, laid down your own shoulder for
me to stand.
I appreciate the efforts of all my lecturers, Prof. S. B. Adejuyigbe( of blessed
memory), Dr M. O. Arowolo, Prof. C. O Osueke, Dr D. C. Uguru-Okorie and
Engr. Dr O.O. Martins(my H.O.D) whose teaching and tutoring on mechatronics
enlightened me, and re-oriented my thinking pattern on solving real life problems.
Thanks to Prof. O. Akinsanmi, Dr. B. J Olorunfemi for their contribution in
impacting knowledge in me during the course of my program.
To my greatest supporter who has been with me through the valley and on the
mountain, my wife (Mrs Ayanniran, Cecilia Olanike) who has for my life laid
down her own neck. Thanks for all you do, did and still doing. I pray God reward
you with more than what you have invested in me in Jesus name.osede Ayanniran
and Cecilia Adeniyi) and friends( Abraham Owalade, Solomon Abiodun, Kehinde
Abiodun and Seun Oladunjoye), thanks for being available at times of need. May
God almighty rewards you all accordingly in Jesus Name.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

In agriculture, there is a need for a technology that is more easily understood, implemented and
used by the farmers. Equipment that requires less human effort and time with less cost of
implementation is much required for success in the agricultural industry. Maize seed sowing
Robot is an embedded system that is designed to dig, drop and cover the corn seed in the farming

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 field which is an alternative tool of manual or traditional farming. It is a device that helps in the
sowing of maize seeds in the desired position hence assisting the farmers in saving time and
money. Seed sowing is one of the main processes of farming activities. It requires a substantial
amount of human efforts and also time-consuming. This project aims in design and fabrication of
maize seed sowing robot for the mentioned task. The essential objectives of sowing operation is
to put the maize seed in desired depth and provide required spacing between them and cover the
seed with soil. We can achieve these by proper compaction. The requirements of small scale
sowing robot are they should be simple in design, affordable for small scale peasant farmers,
easy maintenance for effective handling by unskilled farmers. . The control section as well as
robotic station possess the amenities viz, seed dispenser, seed storage, robotics system with
motors, microcontroller and power supply. It consumes less time and other as well as light
weighted. It is more efficient than other system. The microcontroller is the brain of this system,
which can dedicates the order of suggestions received to all networks and sensible factors
processed by their corresponding embedded program. According to the received signal the robot
will move in the given direction and will place the seed and fertilizers on field with equal
spacing and specified distance. When the robot covers a specific distance the robot stop to sow
the seed. When robot stops, the microcontroller sends the signal to the seed sowing mechanism
to sow the seed at required pitch. After the process of sowing the robot will move forward and
the microcontroller send the signal to the motor which is assign for leveling the surface. Seed
storage container is used to store the seed respectively for seeding. Level detector is used to
indicate amount of seeds in storage container. Bluetooth is used for communication between
robot end and controlling end.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Nowadays, robots are increasingly being integrated into working tasks to replace humans especially to
perform the repetitive task. The word robot was coined by a Czech novelist Karel Capek in a 1920 play

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titled Rassum’s Universal Robots (RUR). Robot in Czech is a word for worker or servant. According to the
Robot Institute of America, 1979, a robot is a reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to
move material, parts, tools or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for the
performance of a variety of tasks. Similarly, robots are machines, which perform tasks similar to the
human form.
A robot is a mechanical device that can perform tasks automatically. Some robots require some
degree of guidance, which may be done using a remote control, or with a computer interface or
can be controlled by gestures. A robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by
a program or circuitry. In general, robotics can be divided into two areas, industrial and service
robotics (Adeeb Ahammed et al., 2016). International Federation of Robotics (IFR) defines a
service robot as a robot which operates semi- or fully autonomously to perform services useful to
the well being of humans and equipment, excluding manufacturing operations (Adeeb Ahammed
et al., 2016). These robots are currently used in many fields of applications including office,
military tasks, hospital operations, dangerous environment and agriculture (Adeeb Ahammed et
al., 2016). Agricultural robots or agbot is a robot deployed for agricultural purposes. The main
area of application of robots in agriculture today is at the harvesting stage. Emerging applications
of robots in agriculture include weed control, planting seeds, harvesting, environmental
monitoring and soil analysis. In this paper we automate the process of sowing crops such as
groundnut, sunflower, baby corn and so on. The farming system like ploughing, cultivating,
weeding, harvesting, etc are the different process. All the processes are advance to modifying the
mechanism in farming which works automatically without the man power requirement. The
small machine would be assembled from existing mass-produced components without the need
of specialized design and tooling. Also, energy require to this machine is less as compared with
tractors or any agricultural instrument. Seeding preparation is our day to day life we use tractor
in farms. But it requires more time and the man shortage is faced continuously parts are
controlled by microcontroller. Recent researches in this field have made wireless gesture
controlling a ubiquitous phenomenon; it needs to acquire more focus in relevant areas of
applications like home appliances, wheelchairs, artificial nurses, agriculture in a collaborative
manner (Monika Jain et al., 2012).

1.2 Statement of the problem

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In the present scenario most of the countries do not have sufficient skilled man power in
agricultural sector and that affects the growth of developing countries. Therefore farmers have to
use upgraded technology for cultivation activity (digging, seed sowing, fertilizing, spraying
etc.).So it is a time to automate the sector to overcome this problem which in turn will also
eliminate the requirement of Labors and also avoid the wastage of seeds (Abdulraman et
al.,2017).
As we are interested in Embedded Electronics based projects and there are many advantages of
the embedded system as well in spite of the electronics based projects. We can control the speed
of the DC motor which is an electrical component by using a delay in the source coding. We are
motivated for doing this project because it is an autonomous agricultural based project and here
we get to deal with the controller, its interfacing with the dc motors, interfacing with the
ultrasonic sensor, a servo motor which is used for opening and closing of the valve required for
the dispensing of seeds and so on.
1.3 Research questions

Based on this for seeding process, considerations which are taken into account in terms of
environment are: robot must be able to move in straightway properly on bumpy roads of farm
field, soil moisture content may affect the soil digging function, sensors to be selected for the
system must be chosen by considering farming environmental effects on their working.
Apart from these three other requirements are in terms of accuracy required in the task and these
are: digging depth, particular optimal distances between rows and plants for certain type of crop,
rows to be sown at a time and accurate navigation in the field. Whereas the other processes like
weeding, spraying and harvesting, for which functioning depends on seeding stage by knowing
the exact location of crop and then making those operations on it accordingly. So the major stage
of all subsequent operations is maintaining a precision in seed sowing process.

1.4 Aim and Objectives

1.4.1 Aim
This project aims in design and fabrication of the maize seed sowing robot
1.4.2 Objectives
The specific objectives of the research are to:

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  Design an automatic maize seed sowing robot.
 Implement and construct the prototype of the system using SLAM method.
 Validation of design with existing theories and framework.
1.5 Methodology

This system is based on Mechatronics. It is automated robot. The feature of this robot is maize seed
sowing. The control section as well as robotic station possess the amenities viz, seed dispenser,
seed storage, robotics system with motors, microcontroller and power supply. It consumes less
time and other as well as light weighted. It is more efficient than other system. The
microcontroller is the brain of this system, which can dedicates the order of suggestions received
to all networks and sensible factors processed by their corresponding embedded program.
According to the received signal the robot will move in the given direction and will place the
seed on field with equal spacing and specified distance. When the robot covers a specific
distance the robot stop to sow the seed. When robot stops, the microcontroller sends the signal to
the seed sowing mechanism to sow the seed at required pitch. After the process of sowing the
robot will move forward and the microcontroller send the signal to the motor which is assign for
leveling the surface. Seed storage container is used to store the seed respectively for seeding. Level
detector is used to indicate amount of seeds in storage container. An ultrasonic sensor is an
instrument that measures the distance to an object using ultrasonic sound waves. An ultrasonic
sensor uses a transducer to send and receive ultrasonic pulses that relay back information about
an object’s proximity.

1.6 Scope of the Study

This study focused on design and implementation of automatic maize seed sowing robot.
Maize seed sowing robot is a device which helps in the sowing of maize seeds in the desired
position hence assisting the farmers in saving time and money. So considering these points
related to maize seed sowing an attempt is made to design and fabricate such equipment which
will able to perform maize seed sowing operations more efficiently and also will result in low
cost. Decrease the operational cost by using new mechanism.

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•Work reliably under different working conditions.
• Decrease the cost of the machine.
• Decrease labor cost by advancing the seeding method.
• The robot can be operated in the small farming land (1 acre).
• Making such a robot which can be able to perform the operation effectively and efficiently.s
1.7 Significance of the Study

The design and implementation of automatic maize seed sowing robot was significant
in the following ways:
i. It will contribute immensely to the increase in the quantity of maize produced by
farmers as human labor will be drastically reduced.
ii. It will help in the improvement of quality of local maize.
iii. It will reduce the dependence on imported maize.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

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2.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter entails a comprehensive review of maize production in Nigeria and existing
approaches to solving problems encountered by Farmers in term of cost labor and low
productivities. The chapter is segmented to include the review of existing studies based on trend
of Maize Production in Nigeria, review of task-based agricultural robots

2.2 Trend of Maize Production in Nigeria

Maize (Zea mays L.), commonly called “corn” is a member of the Poaceae family. It ranked
second after cassava as the most cultivated crop in terms of harvested area (5.8million ha), in
Nigeria (FAOSTAT, 2014). Nigeria is among the top ten (10) maize producers in Africa and is
ranked second after South Africa, with an estimated quantity of about 10.8 million t produced in
2014 (FAOSTAT, 2014). It is widely cultivated in many regions of Nigeria, ranging from coastal
swamps of the south to the dry savanna lands of the north (Remison, 2004). Presently, the
savanna regions of Africa have the comparative advantage and the greatest potential of its
productivity due to lower incidence of pest and diseases, and higher solar radiation (Badu –
Apraku et al., 2000). The production of maize is very popular in Nigeria among arable crops
farmers because of its high socio-economic value and importance in tackling food insecurity and
poverty (Bamire et al., 2010). (Remison, 2005) grouped the uses of maize into three viz; staple
human food, feed for livestock and industrial raw materials. Maize as staple human food is eaten
either boiled or roasted, and as corn meal. It is also used locally in Nigeria for the preparation of
maize breakfast dish called “Ogi’ or “Akamu” (IITA, 1982). As feed for livestock, it is used
directly, after milling, for feeding animals like poultry, sheep, pig and cattle. As industrial raw
materials, the products are used for the manufacturing of starch, asbestos, ceramics, plastics,
oilcloths, linoleum, soaps, varnishes, paints, shoe polish, tobacco, jams, jellies, chemicals, dyes,
explosive, paper, paperboard and wall board. As industrial raw material, maize is also used in the
production of flour, beer, malt drinks, and a component in the production of animal feed (IITA,
1982, Remison, 2005).
Despite its usefulness and high production volumes, Nigeria’s average maize yield of 1.8 t/ha
(FAOSTAT, 2014) is one of the lowest among the top 10 maize producers in Africa. Though
some African countries (e.g., Ethiopia with >3 t/ha) have made significant productivity gains, the

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average yield of maize in Sub Sahara Africa, SSA (estimated at <1.8 t/ha) is still far below the
global average yield of maize (~5 t/ha) and considerably below the 4.4-5.4 t/ha on-farm trial.
Smallholder farmers are the major producers of maize in Nigeria, each cultivating an average of
0.65ha (Anon 2017a). Studies, had demonstrated that inadequate plant spacing is among of the
factors that is responsible for crop yield reduction in Nigeria. ( IITA, 1982) reported that maize
yield in the field depends to an extent on the number of plants per unit area and that, it is
fundamental to establish the optimum rate of planting for the region where it is cultivated.
Generally, irrespective of the variety, the use of appropriate plant spacing that will give the
optimum plant population has been established by various researchers (Remison and Lucas,
1982; Lucas and Remison, 1984).

The use of closer spacing with higher plant population density is of benefit to crops growth and
competition against weed competition. Weed competition is one of the greatest challenges in
maize production, and labour for weeding is one of the most important factors limiting yield.
(Andrade et al.,2002) noted that narrow spacing with higher plant population density accelerates
the promptness of leaf canopy closure and increases canopy solar radiation that invariably
enhances crop performance and competitive ability for the natural resources of growth. Similarly
(Bullock et al.,1998), noted that narrower rows spacing enabled crops to make use of available
light and shade the entire soil surface during the early stage of the crop’s life history while the
soil is still moist. They further noted that less water is being lost from the soil surface by
evaporation through the process. Researchers (Zimdahl, 1999; Mashingaidze, 2004) reported
weed suppressive ability and competitiveness of maize at closer spacing, due to better leaf
canopy closure and shading of the undergrowth. Most Nigerian farmers plant maize using wider
spacing, which often results in scanty plant population density that encourages weed growth, and
competitiveness with the consequent reduction in maize yield. In addition, controlling weeds in
maize planted at a wider spacing at smallholder farm level might be expensive and can lead to
land abandonment especially in areas where land is limited. The need for an appropriate spacing
and optimum plant population density that will enhance maize productivity and yield, as well as
its competitive ability against weed becomes imperative. Therefore the objective of the present
study was to evaluate various plant spacing of maize established and its weed suppression ability
and maize performance in the study location.

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2.3 REVIEW OF PREVIOUS PROJECTS

Robots are widely used in machineries, industries, medical field etc which are automated robots.
Even in agriculture robots are used to perform mission like fruit picking, ploughing and
harvesting. But these robots are pre-defined where mechanism and performance are already
assigned. By these robots there is a possibility of occurring malfunction. If a robot went
erroneous that will cause many damages so automated robots always have the drawbacks
whereas in case of self operated robot breakdown and exertion can be prohibited ( Ashok &
Thamizharasi, 2015) .Motion technology facilitates humans to interact with machines naturally
without any interventions caused by the drawbacks of mechanical devices. Using the concept of
gesture recognition, it is possible to move a robot accordingly (Monika et al., 2012). A rigorous
analysis of different techniques of “Human-Machine Interaction” using gestures has been
presented (Monika et al., 2012). Gestures can be captured with the help of an accelerometer,
however, with the evolution of Smartphone its independent usage has been rendered useless
(Monika et al., 2012).Accelerometer based system which controls a Robotic car wirelessly using
a small, 3-axis accelerometer via RF signals. Many existing technologies and transmission
medium use only Radio Frequency because RF can travel through larger distance than Infra Red
( Ashok & Thamizharasi, 2015).
(Laukik P. Raut et al., 2013) studied to meet the food requirements of the growing population
and rapid industrialization, modernization of agriculture is inescapable. Mechanization enables
the preservation of inputs to ensure better delivery, reducing the volume required for better
response and preventing loss or wastage of applied inputs. Mechanization reduces unit costs of
production through higher productivity and input protection. Farmers have been using the same
methods and tools for ages. In our country farming is done in the traditional way, apart from this
there is a greater development of industrial and service sector than agriculture. Spraying is
traditionally done by backpack sprayer labour which requires more human effort. Weeding is
usually done with the help of bulls which becomes costly for small land cultivated by farmers.
So to overcome these two problems a machine is developed which will be beneficial for the
farmer for spraying and weeding works.
Robots are widely used in machineries, industries, medical field etc which are automated robots.
Even in agriculture robots are used to perform mission like fruit picking, ploughing and

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harvesting. But these robots are pre-defined where mechanism and performance are already
assigned. By these robots there is a possibility of occurring malfunction. If a robot went
erroneous that will cause many damages so automated robots always have the drawbacks
whereas in case of self operated robot breakdown and exertion can be prohibited ( Ashok &
Thamizharasi, 2015).
According to (Swapnil et al., 2017) the suitable distance between the plants for corn is 12-25 cm
and the planting depth obtained is 2-4 cm. As seen in (Hassan et al., 2016) the design detail of an
autonomous robot which is developed for viewing the constraints imposed by agriculture fields
According to a review (Aravind et al .,2017), the five important operations for agricultural
task which are tilling, soil analysis, seeding and transplanting, corn scouting and control and
finally harvesting.
(L. Haibo et al., 2015) demonstrated the wheat precision seeding robot designed using four
wheel drive so that control system could control the movement of robot as well as picking up
and the seed of wheat and adjusted the pressure of the vacuum chamber.
(Ibukun B. Ikechukwu et al., 2014 ) focuses on the design and construction of a manually
operated single row maize planter and is capable of sowing seeds in a straight line with
uniform depth in fur, and with equal spacing between seeds. The work specifically
demonstrates the appliance of engineering techniques to scale back human labour within the
garden. Results obtained from test trials showed that the planter worked properly with a
planting capacity of 0.0486 ha / hr. Visual inspection of the seeds released from the planetary
metering system showed no obvious signs of damage to the seeds.
(Kyada A. R et al., 2014) discussed basic requirements for small scale cropping machines.
They should be suitable for small farms, simple in design and technology and versatile for use
in various agricultural operations. A manually operated template row planer was designed and
developed to improve planting efficiency and reduce the drag involved in the manual planting
method. Seed planting is also possible for different types of seeds with variable depth and
space between two seeds. In addition it increased the accuracy of seed planting, seed / fertilizer
placement and was made of durable and inexpensive materials for small scale farmer farmers.
The operation, adjustment and maintenance of principles were simplified for effective
operation by unskilled operators.

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 Crop type Distance between two Crops Distance between two Crops rows
(y cm) (x cm)
Theoretical Practical

Cotton 15cm 12cm 60cm 53cm

Maize 12cm 9.5cm 45cm 38cm
Soybean 7cm 6cm 50cm 42cm
Wheat 5cm 5cm 25cm 21cm

Table1. Crop Distances (Theoretical and Practical values)

2.4 Review of task-based agricultural robots
Mobile robots that are categorized based on their ability to perform important agricultural
processes are known as task-based agricultural robots
2.4.1 Tilling robots
Tilling operations consist of primary and secondary tilling. Primary tilling is deep agitation of
the soil that produces a rough surface, while secondary tilling is the opposite of primary tilling.
Plowing is an example of a primary tilling operation; harrowing, rototilling and cultivating are a
few examples of secondary tilling. Primary tilling is followed by secondary tilling to produce a
smooth surface. Tilling is a tedious and labor intensive process, making this task a clear target
for automation (Sahay, 2006; Micheal & Ojha, 2008). Traditional tractors have sufficient power
to pull up the soil because they are heavy and have high torque, but small robots cannot perform
this task. Tractors also tend to damage soil through compaction. One of the earliest studies on
automatic plowing was conducted by Harries & Ambler (1981) using a conventional tractor with
a furrow following transducer and steering servo. This tractor used an opto-electronic sensing
technique for turning around the corners; however, the system was not well suited for inclined
slopes due to its large displacement errors. Trials conducted using the implemented guidance
system and automatic turning control were monitored over 200 runs. The tractor returned to its
target position within ± 30 cm over 50% of the time and within ± 60 cm over 75% of the time.
In related research, an existing commercial tractor was modified into an autonomous robot, and
additional equipment was attached to it in order to perform agricultural operations. Nagasaka et
al. (2011) modified a commercial tractor (Yanmar EG65) by fixing a global navigation satellite
system (GNSS) antenna for navigation and a DC motor for steering control. The GNSS of the

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tractor obtains the real-time reference position data from the global positioning systems (GPS)
earth observation network system (GEONET) through the mobile phone network; the data then
must be corrected for the inclination of the vehicle. The inertial measurement unit (IMU) in the
tractor provides information regarding roll, pitch and heading angle. The data from the azimuth
sensor, GNSS and IMU are compared to estimate the control parameter that is converted into an
actuator command. This control parameter corrects the error in following a particular trajectory.
Path planning was performed manually by considering the coordinates of the four corners of a
square field and was provided to the tractor as an input.
Matsuo et al. (2012) modified a commercially available tractor into a robotic vehicle known as
Robotra. Robotra was able to perform unmanned tilling operations using its path-planning
algorithm. This robot used the real-time kinematic-global navigation satellite system (RTK-
GNSS) to provide position information for navigation. RTK (Bakker et al., 2011) is a technique
that is used to improve the accuracy of satellite-based positioning systems, such as GNSS, by
approximately a few centimeters. Three methods of navigation operation were analyzed: basic,
diagonal and round operation methods. Each operation method used a two-step process
consisting of path planning and vehicle guidance to follow the path. The evaluation of these
three operation methods concluded that the basic operation method can be conveniently
performed by a human operator but that the other two methods can be efficiently and accurately
performed only by robots since human visual judgment is limited for conducting precise
operations in the field.
2.4.2 Soil analysis robots
Soil is the main source of nutrients for plants; therefore, various tests are manually performed in
the field by taking samples across the field and then performing statistical analysis to estimate
the soil properties. The results of laboratory tests depend on the number and density of the
measurement locations. This process costs significant time and money to determine several soil
properties. A study by Rossel & McBratney (1998) analyzed and compared the costs of
estimating soil properties in the US and Australia. The average cost per sample for analyzing soil
pH, carbon, nitrate-nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were A$18.4, A$22.2, A$29.9, A$22.5
and A$19.4, respectively, in Australia. The costs in Australia were significantly higher than in
the US, and precision agriculture requires more soil samples, resulting in economically

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inefficient farming. Therefore, an automated real-time measurement system for measuring soil
properties can greatly benefit farmers.
Scholz et al. (2014) developed an automatic soil penetrometer, which was integrated into an
autonomous mobile robot named Bonirob. The soil penetrometer has a probing rod with a force
sensor that penetrates into the soil to a depth of 80 cm via a linear actuator. This robot is also
equipped with surface moisture and temperature sensors and can measure the physical properties
of the soil. Their study showed a strong correlation to the data in the commercial penetrologger
with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.185, 0.145 and 0.120 MPa for soil textures of loamy
sand, sand and silt, respectively.
Pobkrut & Kercharoen (2014) developed a soil-sensing survey robot based on an electronic nose
to determine certain chemical properties of soil. The robot had six wheels and was equipped with
six gas sensors: TGS 825 for hydrogen sulfide; MQ2 for combustible gas; MQ5 for LPG and
natural gas; MQ135 for ammonia, benzene and carbon dioxide; TGS 2600 for air contaminants
and TGS 2602 for volatile organic compound (VOCs) and odorous gases. The Arduino Mega
256 controller was used to obtain data from the sensors and to control the entire system.
The robot sent the data to the system by using a Zigbee-based wireless network. The robot was
tested under real field conditions with different soils, such as sandy soil, sandy soil with
fertilizers, loamy soil and loamy soil with fertilizers. The responses of these sensors to various
soil conditions were recorded, although further detailed study is needed to correlate the responses
with the soil.
A study by Baharom et al. (2015) on real-time soil sensing (RTSS) used a visible and near-
infrared spectrophotometer to detect the various chemical properties of soil, such as the total
carbon, organic matter, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, and moisture content in cultivated
paddies. This RTSS process included a halogen lamp as a light source; these lights were guided
by an optical fiber to illuminate a 50 mm-diameter area at depths of 10, 15 and 20 cm below the
soil surface.
The reflected spectra were then guided to the spectrophotometer by the optical fiber and
analyzed. A calibration models was built, and the soil was mapped at all three depths. The
highest accuracy of the combined data for the three depths had correlation coefficient (R2) values
of 0.88, 0.83, 0.88, 0.85 and RMSE values of 1.38, 0.26, 0.15, 0.01% for moisture content,
organic matter, total carbon and total nitrogen, respectively. The results from this study suggest

17
that combining the data from all three depths provides better prediction accuracy. This RTSS
configuration is connected to a commercial tractor and has not yet been tested while attached to
an autonomous robot.
A few notable studies on RTSS using commercial, non-autonomous tractors are listed in Table
3. Because these systems are automated, they can potentially interface with robots.

Figure 3. Bonirob with a soil penetrometer

2.4.3 Seeding and transplanting robots
Seeding is the process of planting seeds in the soil so that they are successfully able to germinate.
Transplanting involves placing a small plant seedling that has germinated in a particular position
in the field based on the specific space requirements of each crop in the field.
Food grains, such as rice and wheat, represent a major types of food that is consumed by people
around the world. Haibo et al. (2010) developed a precise wheat seeder robot that uses an air
suction precision seeding mechanism to accurately drop seeds using an RTK -GNSS module.
The precision of the seeding mechanism was ensured by considering the geometric
characteristics of wheat seeds. The study analyzed the influence of design and suction speed for
precise seeding and identified the process and structures necessary to optimize this precision.
Based on the analysis results, the optimum diameter of the suction hole in the metering plate was
in the range of approximately 2.0 to 2.8 mm, and the optimum vacuum in air chamber was
between approximately 1.8 to 2.8 kPa to ensures the precise placement of the seeds in the soil.
Nagasaka et al. (2011) automated the rice transplanter Kubota SPU650 by fixing a GNSS
antenna approximately 2 m from the ground surface and by controlling the steering using a

18
servomotor that was connected to the steering axle. Path planning was performed manually by
considering the four corners of a square field, and the path was corrected by measuring the
deviation from the desired path. The same authors used another rice transplanter (Iseki PZ60), as
shown in Fig. 4, with similar automation and path planning procedures (Nagasaka et al., 2011).
Oksanen (2013) modified a tractor named the APU–Module, as shown in Fig. 5, and successfully
conducted trials for the autonomous sowing of spring wheat. This vehicle had the capacity to
store seeds for sowing 0.85 ha without any refills. Navigation was performed by using a GNSS-
based guidance system. This study indicated many practical problems, such as drops in the
GNSS signal because of natural obstacles, errors in satellite communication, and frequent
manual intervention. Manual intervention was required to check the seed and the drill settings as
the tractor was not able to perform automatic detection and adjustments preventing the complete
autonomy of the robot. Recovering the GNSS signal quality required a period of 1 h 27 min and
11-20 interruptions occurred per hectare. The longest continuous operation without intervention
was approximately 20 min and the shortest was 2.8 s. The spatial accuracy deviated by
approximately 12.5 mm from the mean with respect to the selected path. The mean lateral error
was -0.15 cm, and the mean angular error was 0.06°.
Griepentrog et al. (2013) retrofitted a Hakotrac 3000 with GNSS for navigation and an electro-
hydraulic valve for steering to create an autonomous mechanization system (AMS). Crops were
established by interfacing with the data logging system that stored maps for seeding with a grid
seeder and punch plater. GNSS was used for the precise placement of seeds in the field. The
experimental results showed a mean standard deviation of 2.53 mm; and based on a normal
distribution 95% of the data were within 5.1 mm.
Table 4 provides insight regarding some of the other notable studies conducted in the area of
seeding and transplanting using agricultural mobile robots.
2.4.4 Crop scouting and pest, weed and disease control robots
In general, crop scouting is the process of assessing an agricultural field through monitoring of
factors such as pests, weed growth and diseases, which can restrict the crop growth.
2.4.4.1 Crop status monitoring robots
Crops exhibit various characteristic features because of genetic factors, aging, responses to
environment, pests, and soil fertility. Each characteristic provides information regarding complex
traits such as morphology, physiology, growth, ecology, and yield. These complex traits can be

19
assessed by measuring basic quantitative parameters such as leaf length, the leaf area index
(LAI), canopy volume, and shoot biomass; and this process is known as plant phenotyping (Li et
al., 2014). These parameters can be estimated by using various sensors, including light detection
and ranging (LIDAR) or image-capturing devices such as near-infrared (NIR), visible,
hyperspectral and multispectral cameras (Fahlgren et al., 2015).
More detailed monitoring of the plant growth status and other characteristics can be achieved
using multi-sensor data fusion technology. This technology was tested by developing a non-
autonomous phenotyping multi-sensor platform attached to a tractor as a trailer (Busemeyer et
al., 2013). The platform was equipped with 3D time-of-flight (3D-TOF) cameras, a color
camera, a laser distance sensor, a hyperspectral imaging system and a light curtain imaging
system. The repeatability of these sensors for measuring height and coverage density were
analyzed and were very high except for the 3D-TOF and laser distance sensor. The accuracy of
the light curtain imaging system for determining the height was denoted by an R2 value of 0.97
and a mean relative error (MRE) of 0.024 with a repeatability that had an R2=0.99 and an
MRE=0.11. This platform was also used in a plant breeding trial of 25 different genotypes of
triticale. Several characteristics of these plants were deduced by processing the multi-sensor data.
The author concluded that this device could be further integrated with an autonomous robot in
future studies.
Bonirob, which was introduced in the “Soil analysis robot” section, was studied using this
phenotyping system (Ruckelshausen et al., 2009). This robot used sophisticated sensors, such as
a 3D-TOF camera, light curtains and hyper spectral imaging devices, to obtain information that
can be extracted from the sensory data; and the generalized health status of the plants was then
computed using an algorithm. To obtain repeated phenotypic information of each plant in the
field, positional accuracy is an important parameter. Weiss & Biber (2011) used Bonirob with
3D LIDAR to detect the plants and to create a 3D point cloud map of an experimental field with
model paper plants, plastic plants and maize plants. The detection rate of the plants was 60-70%
in outdoor environments with an average positional accuracy of 0.03 m.
Chapman et al. (2014) developed a pheno-copter, which is an autonomous robotic helicopter
used for plant phenotyping. This device was equipped with two digital cameras and one far
infrared camera to analyze images in multiple spectra. One of the experiments estimated the
ground cover of hybrid sorghum using the pheno-copter at an elevation of 60 m to determine the

20
correlation between the number of plants per plot and the green cover for 100 plots. The canopy
temperature and relative transpiration index in sugarcane under different irrigation conditions
were also estimated using the data obtained from visible and thermal cameras. The potential
transpiration index for 40 sugarcane clones based on green cover and relative crop temperature
were determined by approximation. To quantify the crop lodging of wheat, images from an NIR
filtered camera with information on longitude, latitude, elevation and flight log were used to
generate a point cloud elevation model, from which the canopy height was estimated.
Córcoles et al. (2013) used a quadrotor UAV to estimate LAI in onion crops using a digital
photography camera. They also developed LAI calculation (LAIC) software using the artificial
neural network. First, the software tool converts red, green, and blue (RGB) into L*a*b image
format and use the K-means algorithm for cluster analysis. The selected clusters are provided as
inputs to the artificial neural network, which calculates the area covered by leaves. Statistical
analysis was conducted using the minimum value, maximum value, standard deviation, mean
and coefficient of variation to establish a relationship between LAI and canopy cover. The
maximum value of LAI was 56% in the onion crops. The study found that the polynomial
model showed better results than the exponential model and that the coefficient of
determination was approximately 84%.

Figure 5. Wheat-sowing APU-Module

2.4.4.2 Crop pest and disease monitoring and control robots

21
Incidences of disease from pests and microorganisms affect the output of agricultural products
wordwide. The majority of these diseases induce visible symptoms in plants; however, farmers
can identify a disease in a large field only when a significant number of plants are infected.
Polder et al. (2014) developed a fully enclosed, manually propelled platform that is equipped
with a diffused fluorescent lamp and a multi-spectral camera (RGB & NIR). The platform is
manually moved over each tulip plant as an image of the plant is obtained. Images in the NIR
spectrum help segment the image to differentiate the plant from the soil. Diseased plants among
healthy plants are identified using Fisher’s linear discriminant classification algorithms. The
result is then compared with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) score and expert
survey results. The results of this study showed that crop experts identified 80% of the diseased
plant and misclassified healthy plants as diseased plants 10% of the time. However, the machine
vision system correctly identified over 90% of the diseased plant and misclassified 10% of the
healthy plants as diseased plants. The author also offered ideas for improving this platform for a
robotic system.
Other research has discussed using robots to monitor and identify diseases in the field at an early
stage. Pilli et al. (2014) developed eAGROBOT to detect diseases in cotton and ground nut
plants at an early stage using image processing techniques. A grid data acquisition was used, and
sample images were provided as input to a K-means clustering algorithm with varying numbers
of nodes for different disease types. A neural network using a single hidden layer with a back
propagation technique was used to classify the diseases with highly variable quantity based on
the disease type. The results showed that the Pearson’s r and p values had a poor correlation,
while the “contrast of hue” and “correlation of saturation” features showed negative correlation
with disease type. The above features along with other textural features (e.g., energy and
homogeneity of hue) were used to classify the disease with an accuracy range of 83-96%. Rieder
et al. (2014) described the preliminary stage of development of a virtual reality-based system for
identifying diseases in strawberry plants using a drone. This system includes a 3D user interface
to control and monitor the drone, which will assist in studying the phenology of strawberry
plants and disease incidence.
Pest infestation and other microbial-based diseases can be controlled by the appropriate
application of pesticides. However, misuse of these chemicals can cause pesticide-resistant
diseases, and excess application pollutes the environment. Furthermore, the long-term exposure

22
of farmers to these chemicals has harmful effects on the health of farmers. These problems
suggest a need for precise applications that are assessed by studying variable rate technology and
the site-specific application of pesticides (Bongiovanni & Lowenberg- Deboer, 2004); this
precise application can only be achieved by automating the process. Further automation of
pesticide application can be achieved by electronic monitors, which measure the application rate
and provide a command signal, and rate controllers, which control the rate of application (Zhang
& Pierce, 2013).
A study on the precise application of pesticides using an UAV was performed by Faiçal et al.
(2014). They mainly focused on developing a system architecture using an UAV through
simulations. They adjusted the UAV route plan depending on the relative concentration of
pesticides in a given area measured using wireless sensor networks for precise application of
pesticides. Simulated wireless sensor nodes were positioned at various locations in an
experimental field, and the concentration was measured with a color scale varying from green
(most concentrated) to red (no pesticide) using the heat map of the field. The behavior of the
system was best at a constant light wind of 10 km/h and random gusts of light wind at 10 km/h
with no significant difference in measurement at heights of 5 m, 10 m and 20 m. Furthermore,
the results show that the chemical dispersion was approximately 14% better for messages sent
(from the wireless sensor network to the UAV) every 10 s compared to every 30 s. Sheng
(2014) developed a robotic system controlled via wireless network using a mobile phone. The
robot was equipped with infrared sensors for obstacle avoidance, a video camera module to
obtain visible information, and a sprayer module with a spray head that was adjusted according
to the height. The robot was tested on different floors, such as concrete, mud, gravel and grass.
The system was able to spray up to a maximum distance of 130 cm with a spray angle of 30–
50° and a spray area of 0.88 m2.
2.4.4.3 Weed detection and control robots
A weed is an unwanted plant that affects the production and quality of produce on a farm. Weeds
compete with crops for resources, which is known as weed competition. According to a survey
by Parker & Fryer (1975), production loss from weed competition is estimated to be 11.5%
globally, although the loss in individual countries varies because of differing environmental
conditions.

23
Weeds can be classified according to their location in the field; inter-row or intra-row weeds.
Inter-row weeds develop between rows of crops, while intra-row weeds develop among crops in
the same row.
One of the important challenges of using robots for weed control is identifying weeds from
crops. Bonirob was equipped with a multispectral monocular camera, known as JAI AD-130 GE,
which captured images with 1.3 million pixels and an image size of 1296 × 966 pixels. This
robot was tested on a commercially viable carrot field and had an accuracy of approximately
93.8% when differentiating carrot plants from weeds (Haug et al., 2014). Jensen et al. (2012)
developed a crop scouting robot known as Armadillo. The robot prototype was developed and
tested in a maize field for weed detection, and the researchers. are currently developing a
mechanical weeder for the weed removal.
Physically removing weeds is a labor-intensive job that requires constant monitoring during the
early stage of crop development. Weeds can also be removed by applying chemical herbicides or
by using other techniques, such as mechanical force or heat.
Blasco et al. (2002) developed a mobile platform with a manipulator that was equipped with an
electrode and a secondary vision system. The primary vision system, which is a color camera
with a resolution of 768 × 576 pixels, was attached to the front frame of the robot. The images
from the secondary vision system were compared with those of the primary vision to locate
weeds and to send spatial coordinates to the electrode for weed removal. The electrical
discharge from the electrode destroyed the weed tissues, and the system was able to eliminate
100% of the detected weeds. The system was able to locate 84% of the weeds and 99% of the
lettuce plants using its vision system.
Chocron et al. (2007) developed a flatness-based control for a weed killer robot to remove weeds
in a cornfield. This robot had two ultrasonic sensors along two sides at its front. These sensors
measured the distance from the robot to the crop along the sides and helped the robot to navigate
between rows of crops. The weeds between the crop rows were removed using a hoeing
operation with a 40 cm wide hoe carefully driven by the robot. Mechanically removing weeds by
hoeing reduces the need for chemical weed killers. The important limitation of this robot is that it
cannot remove weeds close to corn crop.
Sogaard & Lund (2007) tested a mobile robot that uses vision sensors for micro-dosing of
herbicides to avoid the excessive use of these chemicals. The micro-dosing system consists of

24
20 uniformly placed tubes that form a micro-boom; the flow of the chemicals is controlled by a
solenoid valve. The robot was tested in laboratory conditions with circles of black polyvinyl
chloride sheets with a radius of 5.9 mm and densities ranging from 50 to100 circles/m2 to
evaluate the spraying precision. The centroid of the spray on the sheets was 10 mm from the
target, and the standard deviations along the longitudinal and transverse directions were 2.5 and
1.8 mm, respectively. The study revealed that the savings of the herbicide glyphosate on
Solanum nigrum were 536 g/ha; only 4 g/ha were required when using the robot.
Pérez-Ruiz et al. (2015) modified a commercial tractor into an autonomous tractor, as shown in
Fig. 6. This machine was equipped with several systems, such as an intelligent spraying system
and a mechanical and thermal weed control system; the system was designed especially for rows
with a width of 0.25 m. A high-level decision-making system controlled a sprayer boom that
interfaced with the modified autonomous tractor for variable application of herbicides based on a
prescription map and the vehicle location. Experiment were conducted in a winter wheat crop a
0.25-ha field, as shown in Fig. 7. Application of this robotic system in the field with a weed
infestation of 3.24% saved approximately 96.65% of the liquid applied per hectare. As the
percentage of the weed infestation increased, the savings in the liquid applied decreased.
The same team used a thermal weed control system of a modified tractor and used an
LPG flame as the heat source. The system reduced weeds by 95-99% in maize farming. The
study also showed that the production output of a crop was not reduced by the thermal weed
control system. Although using of flames to kill weeds is highly effective, it can potentially kill
crops and also raises serious safety issues regarding the robot itself.
Nakai & Yamada (2014) developed a robot equipped with a laser range finder and a stereo
camera; the robot suppresses weeds by applying mechanical force with a crawler and brush that
are the end effector of a robotic arm attached to a tank-type mobile robot. Because the soil
surface of a rice field is soft, wet and muddy, the robotic wheels had a continuous or caterpillar
track that was 56 mm wide to provide stability and traction for the robot. The robot also had
automatic posture control using the laser range finder and a robotic arm using a tilt sensor. Only
inter-row weeds can be suppressed by this robot.
2.4.5 Harvesting robots
Harvesting generally refers to the collection of matured crops from an agricultural field.
However, this process varies for different crops. For example, harvesting horticultural crops,

25
such as vegetable or fruit crops, refers to collecting of fruits or vegetables from plants, but this
process is different for rice or wheat crops. Harvesting requires considerably greater labor hours;
in horticulture, fruits and flowers must be plucked repeatedly from plants as they mature. A
robotic harvester must detect the properties of the produce, such as its position, size, surface
type, and shape. Additionally, the robot requires mobility to move to a reasonable position and a
picking or harvesting mechanism for the harvesting process.
Several semi-automated machines have been built for harvesting, such as harvesters and
combine harvesters, to address these problems. Many commercially available harvesters have the
ability to interface with tractors using a power take-off (PTO) shaft that uses the power output
from the engine. Combine harvesters, which are vehicles that are dedicated to harvesting
operation and are operated by humans, have been used to harvest various crops, such as wheat,
oats, barley, corn, soya beans, and sunflowers.
An automated combined harvester (Iseki HFG443) was modified by Nagasaka et al. (2011) for
crops such as rice. Its navigation methodology was similar to the working of an automated
tractor and rice transplanter, as explained in the “Seeding and transplanting robot” section.
Zhang et al. (2013) retrofitted an AG1100 combine harvester with Topcon AGI3 GNSS and
IMU receiver for autonomous navigation guided by World Geodetic Sysetm-84 (WGS-84)
coordinates for harvesting rice and wheat. The harvester was tested in a 150-m-long
experimental path with initial lateral and heading errors of 20 cm and 1.8°, respectively. When
the harvester travelled in stable conditions, the lateral error varied within ± 8.3 cm, and the
heading error varied within ± 2.5°. Detecting and picking fruits, vegetables or flowers from
plants is necessary for other types of crops, such as horticultural crops. Robotic harvesters that
pick fruits or vegetables mostly consist of contact-type grippers that are actuated using
pneumatic, hydraulic or electric means. Other methodologies, such as cutting the stem with a
laser beam, were proposed by Liu et al. (2008) to minimize the size and complexity of the end
effectors. A focusing lens can focus a high-power, 30-W laser beam from a fiber-coupled laser
diode to cut the stem of a single fruit or cluster.
Chatzimichali et al. (2009) designed a robotic harvesting machine for white asparagus. The
system consisted of a mobile platform equipped with an asparagus identification system using
image processing and a cutting mechanism for harvesting. Antonelli et al. (2011) added a
developed harvesting module to the robot Zaffy. This harvesting module was equipped with a

26
gripper, a vision system that assisted in positioning, and a pneumatic system for harvesting
saffron flowers from plants. This harvesting system successfully made cuts 60% of the time.

Figure 7. Herbicide application using intelligent boom spray in a wheat field

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY (Or MATERIALS and METHODS)

3.1 Principle of Operation

This system is based on Mechatronics. It is automated robot. The feature of this robot is maize seed
sowing. The control section as well as robotic station possess the amenities viz, seed dispenser,
seed storage, robotics system with motors, microcontroller and power supply. It consumes less
time and other as well as light weighted. It is more efficient than other system. The
microcontroller is the brain of this system, which can dedicates the order of suggestions received
to all networks and sensible factors processed by their corresponding embedded program.
According to the received signal the robot will move in the given direction and will place the
seed on field with equal spacing and specified distance. When the robot covers a specific

27
distance the robot stop to sow the seed. When robot stops, the microcontroller sends the signal to
the seed sowing mechanism to sow the seed at required pitch. After the process of sowing the
robot will move forward and the microcontroller send the signal to the motor which is assign for
leveling the surface. Seed storage container is used to store the seed respectively for seeding. Level
detector is used to indicate amount of seeds in storage container. An ultrasonic sensor is an
instrument that measures the distance to an object using ultrasonic sound waves. An ultrasonic
sensor uses a transducer to send and receive ultrasonic pulses that relay back information about
an object’s proximity.

Figure 3.1: Block diagram of maize seed sowing robot

28
29
 Figure 3.2: Flow Chart of the system
3.2 Description of Components
The system is made up of two parts:
i. Hardware component
ii. Software component
3.2.1 Hardware component
The hardware component is made of electronic components and the mechanical components
(support).
ESP32 Microcontroller:

30
31
A microcontroller is a small computer (which is used to operate all devices like DC motor,
Bluetooth module etc.) on a single integrated circuit.
Battery:
A battery is a device consisting of one or more electro-chemical cells that convert stored
chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery (or "voltaic pile")
in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836,
batteries have become a common power source for many household and industrial applications.
According to a 2005 estimate, the worldwide battery industry generates US$48 billion in sales
each year, with 6% annual growth. There are two types of batteries: primary batteries(disposable
batteries) which are designed to be used once and discarded, and secondary batteries
(rechargeable batteries) which are designed to be recharged and used multiple times.
Batteries come in many sizes, from miniature cells used to power hearing aids and wristwatches
to battery banks the size of rooms that provide standby power for telephone exchanges and
computer data centers. In this project, 12v lithium ion battery is used.

32
 L298N Module

Servo Motor

33
Servo motor implies to reduce the error of the system sensing by the feedback control of that
system. And this requires the sophisticated controller for use with the servomotors for dedicated
module to design particularly. Servo motor provides precise angular position. They are actually
DC motors whose speed is slowed down by the gears. The servo motors usually have a
revolution cut off from 90° to 180°. A few servo motors also have revolution cut off of 360° or
more. Servomotor is having limited rotation in between the fixed angles and it do not rotate
constantly.
Dc Motor

The operation of DC motors consists of conversion of electrical energy into mechanical energy.
Basic parts of DCmotor are axle rotor, stator, commentator, field magnets and brushes. The DC
motors are used to drive the wheels connected to the robot base.
DC motors have a rotating armature winding but non-rotating armature magnetic field and a
static field winding or permanent magnet. Different connections of the field and armature
winding provide different inherent speed/torque regulation characteristics. The speed of a DC

34
motor can be controlled by changing the voltage applied to the armature or by changing the field
current. The introduction of variable resistance in the armature circuit or field circuit allowed
speed control. Modern DC motors are often controlled by power electronics systems called DC
drives.

Ultrasonic Sensor

An ultrasonic sensor is an instrument that measures the distance

to an object using ultrasonic sound waves. An ultrasonic sensor
uses a transducer to send and receive ultrasonic pulses that relay
back information about an object’s proximity.

Buck Converter

35
A buck converter (step-down converter) is a DC-to-DC power converter which steps down
voltage from its input (supply) to its output (load).

Arduino

Arduino is an open source programmable circuit board that can be integrated into a wide variety
of makerspace projects both simple and complex. This board contains a microcontroller which is
able to be programmed to sense and control objects in the physical world. By responding to
sensors and inputs, the Arduino is able to interact with a large array of outputs such as LEDs,

36
motors and displays. Because of it’s flexibility and low cost, Arduino has become a very popular
choice for makers and makerspaces looking to create interactive hardware projects.
Arduino was introduced back in 2005 in Italy by Massimo Banzi as a way for non-engineers to
have access to a low cost, simple tool for creating hardware projects. Since the board is open-
source, it is released under a Creative Commons license which allows anyone to produce their
own board. If you search the web, you will find there are hundreds of Arduino compatible clones
and variations available but the only official boards have Arduino in it’s name.
In the next section, we’re going to discuss a few of the Arduino boards available and how they
differ from each other.

Arduino is a great platform for prototyping projects and inventions but can be confusing when
having to choose the right board. If you’re brand new to this, you might have always thought that
there was just one “Arduino” board and that’s it. In reality, there are many variations of the
official Arduino boards and then there are hundreds more from competitors who offer clones.
But don’t worry, we’re going to show you which one to start with later on in this tutorial.
Below are a few examples of the different types of Arduino boards out there. The boards with the
name Arduino on them are the official boards but there are also a lot of really great clones on the
market as well. One of the best reasons to buy a clone is the fact they are generally less
expensive than their official counterpart. Adafruit and Sparkfun for example, sell variations of
the Arduino boards which cost less but still have the same quality of the originals. One word of
caution, be careful when buying boards from companies you don’t know.

37
Board Breakdown
Here are the components that make up an Arduino board and what each of their functions are.
1. Reset Button – This will restart any code that is loaded to the Arduino board
2. AREF – Stands for “Analog Reference” and is used to set an external reference voltage
3. Ground Pin – There are a few ground pins on the Arduino and they all work the same
4. Digital Input/Output – Pins 0-13 can be used for digital input or output
5. PWM – The pins marked with the (~) symbol can simulate analog output
6. USB Connection – Used for powering up your Arduino and uploading sketches
7. TX/RX – Transmit and receive data indication LEDs
8. ATmega Microcontroller – This is the brains and is where the programs are stored
9. Power LED Indicator – This LED lights up anytime the board is plugged in a power source
10. Voltage Regulator – This controls the amount of voltage going into the Arduino board
11. DC Power Barrel Jack – This is used for powering your Arduino with a power supply

38
12. 3.3V Pin – This pin supplies 3.3 volts of power to your projects
13. 5V Pin – This pin supplies 5 volts of power to your projects
14. Ground Pins – There are a few ground pins on the Arduino and they all work the same
15. Analog Pins – These pins can read the signal from an analog sensor and convert it to digital

How To Program Arduino

Once the circuit has been created on the breadboard, you’ll need to upload the
program (known as a sketch) to the Arduino. The sketch is a set of instructions that
tells the board what functions it needs to perform. An Arduino board can only hold
and perform one sketch at a time. The software used to create Arduino sketches is
called the IDE which stands for Integrated Development Environment. The software
is free to download and can be found at https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software
Every Arduino sketch has two main parts to the program:
void setup() – Sets things up that have to be done once and then don’t happen again.
void loop() – Contains the instructions that get repeated over and over until the board
is turned off.
3.2.2 Software Component

3.2.2.1 Arduino integrated Development Environment:

This is an application environment through which c++ codes are written and

uploaded to the ESP32 microcontroller module via serial communication to make

it perform a particular task.

3.3 Mechanical design of the system

39
The drawing of the mechanical design was done using SOLIDWORKS software. The following
sheets were generated.

3.4 Mechanical
(Welding) Design of the
system

CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS AND
DISCUSSION

4.1

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION and RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 CONCLUSION
The main focus of this system is its Automatic way of sowing the seeds. The seeds are been
sowed in a proper sequence which results in proper germination of seeds. This automatic way of
sowing seeds using a robot reduces the labor requirement. Here the wastage of seeds is also been
reduced to a greater extent. This system has been developed for the sowing of seeds in an
automatic way. Here with the help of a robot the seeds are been dispensed in the soil in a proper
sequence hereby reducing the wastage of seeds. This robot will help the farmers to do the
farming process efficiently. The project can be enhanced to any other kinds of crop such as

40
beans, rice etc. The robot can be designed with chain roller instead of normal wheel. Hence, it
can be applicable to the real time agricultural field.
This robot is very useful for the farmers who are interested to do agriculture activity but facing
the labor problem and waste in each individual process for a complete cycle.
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LIST 0F REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDICES

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