Robotics Applied to Precision Agriculture: The Sustainable Agri.q Rover Case Study

The Agri.q rover for precision agriculture is the main focus of the present paper. After a description of the prototype, a set of experimental results is presented to validate the energetic sustainability of the robot. Characterized by a modular articulated mechanical structure, and provided with specific sensors and tools, the Agri.q is able to operate in unstructured agricultural environments in order to fulfill several tasks as mapping, monitoring, and manipulating or collecting small soil and crop samples. In addition, the rover is equipped with a platform covered with solar panels, whose orientation can be exploited to maximize the efficiency of the energy harvesting, but also to function as a self-leveling landing platform for drones. The design of such a system was mainly driven by particular attention to energy consumption, bearing in mind the main objective of improving the profitability while decreasing the impact of the agricultural processes. In this paper, all these characteristics are described and analyzed in detail, with particular attention to the energy balance of the whole machine deriving from locomotion on different slopes and soils, panels orienting operations, and of course collection of solar energy.