Image-based Control of a UGV in an Orchard using a Central Catadioptric Camera
Junpei Nagata, Kosuke Kaida, Keita KURASHIKI, Takanori Fukao, Kenji Ishiyama, Tsuyoshi Kamiya, Noriyuki Murakami · Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan · 2011
Recently the necessity of autonomous or highly functional agricultural equipments is increasing because of decrease and aging of labors for farming. The development of autonomous vehicles in an orchard is required as one of the equipments because an orchard is usually on a hill or mountain where it is very tough for farmers to work. In this research, a new design method of an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) in an orchard is proposed by using image-based control with a central catadioptric camera. A central catadioptric camera is very effective to keep target objects in the camera field of view because of its wide area view. The effectiveness of our proposed method is confirmed by experimental results in an orchard.