The significant difficulties experienced by farmers are most of the time related to harvesting their crops in a cost-effective and efficient manner. Some of the challenges include labor, which is always expensive and scarce and quality is inconsistent. These experiences are compounded by the brevity of the picking seasons and of course, the vagaries of weather, since one might lose parts of their crop if workers are not enough.
Further, the chance of human pickers mishandling the fragile fruits is possible, leading to damage and devaluation of the produce. Growers also suffer in maintaining the quality of the product and the challenge of ensuring the exacting requirements put forward by supermarkets about fruit size, appearance and packing.
Of course, while disease detection for the crops is of definite importance for the health and productivity of the fruiting plants, it alone is not enough to help with the laundry list of problems facing fruit growers.
Lets understand how we can handle automation as well as disease detection in agriculture.
Benefits of automating harvesting agriculture using AI and Robotics:
Robotic fruit harvesting systems can offer some level of automation in fruit harvesting processes, meaning that it will help reduce dependency on human labor while at the same time ensuring consistent handling—gentle handling, in this case, of the produce at hand.
The system will be based on computer vision with machine learning to identify ripened fruits and, further, approximately estimate their pickability in variable conditions. Besides the robot’s ability to work continuously for long periods without tiring, it will provide an alternative solution to problems with labor forces that are becoming more critical due to shortages and lateness in harvesting. Crop disease detection combined with the robotic fruit picking system would maximize benefits for farmers and growers.
These two are simultaneously combined in assisting the growers in ensuring the health of plants and harvesting, optimizing it to the best possible levels in terms of efficiency and profitability.
Identifying diseases and pests in crops:
While it’s important to understand how robots can help with harvesting, it’s also essential to understand how the AI would recognize healthy agricultural products and harvest them correctly.
There are different methods for disease and pest detection in crops. One such method is using pixel-level defect analysis combining local and global features to assign weights, SIFT feature matching with a computed threshold to identify relevant crop regions, and deep learning for the actual disease and pest detection on the identified crop images. The pixel-level analysis helps preserve useful edge features like leaf veins while excluding irrelevant edge pixels.
Let’s understand this in a simple, relatable way.
Crop diseases and pests can be detected in different ways. This method, for example, is multi-stepped—like a team of detectives with different skills:
Pixel-level defect analysis:
This is equivalent to the detective team looking at the crime scene (crop image) very closely, inch by inch (pixel by pixel). They measure how much each small area (pixel) differs from its surroundings, trying to spot something out of the ordinary. But they don’t want to be suspicious of all the everyday things, like leaf veins, so they focus on significant differences.
Local and global features:
These are akin to the various clues examined by detectives: local features, such as close details of how different a pixel is from those surrounding it; and global features, looking at the overall picture, such as any patterns of overall bizarreness in an image.
Assigning weights:
A pixel importance score is, indeed, the “weight” that detectives assign in their evidence to all clues based on the strength of the clues (local and global features).
SIFT Feature Matching:
The idea occurs that the detectives must have some kind of special magnifying glass that makes it possible for them to see certain key features in the image that SIFT detects.
Computed Threshold:
Detectives define one bar for suspiciousness and another as a threshold, multiplying the importance scores by the important features required to form a threshold that serves as a cut-off point between normal and potentially alarming areas.
Deep learning for disease and pest detection:
With the suspicious areas thus pinpointed, they then use a very powerful tool—a super-smart computer program (deep learning network) trained in recognizing a given disease and pest type. It basically works like the last detective that gives you a diagnosis in other words; now what is basically wrong with the crop, it tells the team.
This pixel-by-pixel analysis combined with teamwork helps one to identify the crop problems at a very nascent stage. Very much like a team of detectives working together to crack a case!
How to use robotics and computer vision for efficient crop harvesting:
The robotic fruit picking system may be equipped with a few of the following advanced computer vision capabilities, identified for gender and effective fruit harvesting. Some of the features include:
- Navigation and positioning: The cameras could feed the visual data to CV that can be used to detect features of the tabletop growing systems, such as the legs, in order to determine the orientation of the system, and lateral displacement of the machine relative to the crop rows. In this way, it would be possible to allow the robot to navigate in an autonomous way and to remain in the middle of two rows at a fixed distance from the row.
- Fruit detection and localization: The system may use computer vision algorithms to identify and localize a fruit or a bunch of fruits on plants. This effort could be through techniques such as image segmentation, object detection, and depth perception using stereo vision or 3D cameras.
- Ripeness and quality assessment: Other visual features of fruit, like color, size, shape, and texture, can also be analyzed using computer vision systems related to ripeness and generally regarding the quality of the agricultural food product. This could be realized for determining when to pick or sorting harvested produce according to preset criteria.
- Adaptive lighting and imaging: The system would be able to accommodate different illumination conditions by using weather forecast data to calibrate its picking strategies. Moreover, it could also accommodate controlled illumination techniques and multi-spectral imaging to acquire superior images of the fruits to enable an accurate analysis.
- Yield mapping and prediction: Both the ripe and unripe fruits could be saved, making a yield map based upon locations and details of all detected fruits to predict for following years. That information could help a grower optimize harvest planning and resource allocation.
- Obstacle detection and avoidance: Using computer vision, the robot could detect obstacles in its way. These could be branches or parts of plants that the system would use to prevent collision with the picking arm during operation.
All these functionalities of computer vision could be integrated into such a robot system for fruit-picking purposes to let it fully autonomously adapt to different conditions and make wise decisions, therefore maximizing efficiency while minimizing damage. Such abilities can be amalgamated in concert with mechanical components and control systems of robots to afford an all-inclusive solution toward automated fruit harvesting.
Challenges and Considerations for AI and Robotics in Agriculture:
While a great deal of potential benefits can be seen from the provision of AI and robotics technologies for farming, a list of the most critical challenges that must be overcome is necessary to enable effective adoption. Here are the three most important ones explained in more detail:
Scalability: Adapting to Diverse Farms and Crops
Current limitations:
Most of the advanced robotic harvesting systems are developed and designed to work with certain crops in controlled environments. Adapting such systems for open field terrains, crop variety, and weather conditions means a great challenge.
Research efforts:
Research is being carried out for the development of robots that could be flexible enough to handle fruits of different forms and sizes without damaging them. Solutions with how various companies are also dealing with adaptable grippers and manipulators with the differently shaped fruits and vegetables in varieties are currently underway.
Analysis:
Although this is a situation where progress can be seen, true scalability is going to need additional developments in both AI and robotics fields. Modular robot designs and improved object recognition capabilities would be essential to expand applicability toward a variety of farm types.
Economic Viability: Affordability for Small and Medium Farms
Cost concerns:
High initial cost of robotic systems and follow-up costs with maintenance problems have been some of the greatest challenges for the SMFs; they usually work on much tighter margins.
Potential solutions:
High capital costs associated with robotic systems being a barrier. The following are the opportunities in making the technology available to SMFs:
- Financial support from the government in order to promote adoption.
- Development of Robotic Equipment Leasing or Rental Models.
- Shared service cooperatives that allow multiple farms to pool resources and technologies into a single.
Analysis:
Making SMFs affordable is important if they are to be adopted widely. An inexpensive solution for SMFs has to be developed through a collaboration of the researchers, manufacturers, and policymakers.
Social Impact: Automation and Jobs in Agriculture
Job displacement:
Some of this displacement in the agricultural sector is inevitable due to automation, more specifically in the manual harvesting of crops that is currently done.
Upskilling and retraining:
Local programs will be necessary for retraining displaced workers to assume employment in the newly developing agricultural landscape through jobs running, maintaining, and managing robotic systems, including data analysis.
Labor shortages:
The importance of automation on most farms, therefore, is determined by labor shortages that are already in existence. For this reason, it can still keep up with peak harvesting needs even if a farm’s workforce is reduced.
Analysis:
It is imperative for social impacts to be taken extremely seriously into consideration. The fear of losing jobs may be allayed with proper steps and safeguards. Moreover, automation also helps counter the existing deficiency in the supply of labor, and in that respect, agriculture as an industry can benefit from it wholly.
