Forage management optimization based on robotics and artificial intelligence

Background

Forages are the most important crops of Northern Sweden, and represent more than 70% of the total agricultural land use. The production performance of these crops affects the whole livestock system, as forages are the primary source of feed for ruminants. Helping farmers to adjust their practices based on relevant information would increase the efficiency of the dairy and meat production industries. Remote sensing offers relevant solutions for monitoring of crops and fields.

Satellite images cover a large geographical extent, at the cost of a moderate to coarse pixel size. Drones are another method for providing high resolution spatial information, however they are limited by weather conditions, restrictive regulations, and a very limited payload. Unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) are not affected by the above-mentioned issues, and could become efficient scouting tools to help farmers in their decision-making.

Project description

A UGV pilot robot will be developed and equipped with a range of cameras and sensors and tested in field conditions to (i) report the potential and limitations of UGVs as a platform for sensors, and (ii) assess the accuracy and robustness of the various sensors to retrieve relevant agronomic information, such as clover content, biomass production and winter survival.

Collaboration

This project is a collaboration between the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and Luleå Technical University (LTU).

Contacts

Julianne Oliveira, Researcher
Department of Crop Production Ecology, Crop production science
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
julianne.oliveira@slu.se, +46 907868724, +46 767637129

Christoforos Kanellakis, Associate Senior Lecturer
Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering
Luleå Technical University
christoforos.kanellakis@ltu.se, +46 920 492363

Jakub Haluska, Senior Research Engineer
Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering
Luleå Technical University
jakub.haluska@ltu.se, +46 (0)920 493135

David Parsons, Professor
Department of Crop Production Ecology, Crop production science
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
david.parsons@slu.se, +46 907868714, +46 730893445