Abstract
The research project Rovitis 4.0 was aimed to design and develop two prototypes of robot, connected to a Decision Support System (DSS), capable of automatically spraying vineyards. Through these machines a safer application of pesticides is possible, allowing operators to maintain distance from the application zone and during the preparation of the phytoiatric mixture and reducing the use of plant protection products by a variable rate precision spraying system. During the three-year activity of the project, several parameters have been tested, such as: safety and performance of the autonomous driving system; effectiveness of the correct robot-DSS interaction; effectiveness and quality of robotic treatments; economic sustainability and environmental benefits of the innovation. The first prototype of robot, thanks to the development of an autonomous drive system, was able to operate alone through the entire 2020 season. The second prototype was equipped with the precision spraying system based on vegetation recognition. It was able to instantaneously adapt the spraying to the size and position of the target, allowing a 43% reduction of copper-based products in the 2020 season. The overall results showed that a robotic management of the vineyard can lead to environmental and economic advantages even for medium size farms. This paper describes the features of the robots and shows the main findings obtained during the testing of the machines.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Biocca, M., Cutini, M., Romano, E., Pallottino, F., Gallo, P.: Evaluation of drift-reducing nozzles for pesticide application in hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.). AgriEngineering 3(2), 230–239 (2021)
Bolzonella C., Lucchetta M., Teo G., Boatto V., Zanella A.: Is there a way to rate insecticides that is less detrimental to human and environmental health? Glob. Ecol. Conserv. 20, e00699 (2019)
Cantelli, L., Bonaccorso, F., Longo, D., Melita, C.D., Schillaci, G., Muscato, G.: A small versatile electrical robot for autonomous spraying in agriculture. AgriEngineering 1(3), 391–402 (2019)
Chaitanya, P., Kotte, D., Srinath, A., Kalyan, K.B.: Development of smart pesticide spraying robot. Int. J. Recent Technol. Eng. 8(5), 2193–2202 (2020)
Danton, A., Roux, J.C., Dance, B., Cariou, C., Lenain, R.: Development of a spraying robot for precision agriculture: an edge following approach. In: 2020 IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications (CCTA), pp. 267–272 (2020)
Dodich project. http://www.ethics.it/dodich/. Accessed 25 Sept 2021
EIP-AGRI. https://ec.europa.eu/eip/agriculture/en. Accessed 25 Sept 2021
Fountas, S., Mylonas, N., Malounas, I., Rodias, E., Hellmann Santos, C., Pekkeriet, E.: Agricultural robotics for field operations. Sensors 20(9), 2672 (2020)
Franchi, A.: Pesticides class of potential impact – CIP. An indicator to drive sustainable choices, p. 34. ARPA Toscana, Firenze (2017)
Gonzalez-de-Santos, P., et al.: Fleets of robots for environmentally-safe pest control in agriculture. Precis. Agric. 18(4), 574–614 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11119-016-9476-3
Jian-sheng, P.: An intelligent robot system for spraying pesticides. Open Electr. Electron. Eng. J. 8(1), 435–444 (2014)
Lin, Y.C., Chou, C.C., Lian, F.L.: Indoor robot navigation based on DWA*: velocity space approach with region analysis. In: 2009 ICCAS-SICE, pp. 700–705. IEEE (2009)
Marinoudi, V., Sørensen, C. G., Pearson, S., Bochtis, D.: Robotics and labour in agriculture. A context consideration. Biosyst. Eng. 184, 111–121 (2019)
Oberti, R., et al.: Selective spraying of grapevines for disease control using a modular agricultural robot. Biosys. Eng. 146, 203–215 (2016)
Oliveira, L.F.P., Moreira, A.P., Silva, M.F.: Advances in agriculture robotics: a state-of-the-art review and challenges ahead. Robotics 10(2), 52 (2021)
Otto, S., Loddo, D., Baldoin, C., Zanin, G.: Spray drift reduction techniques for vineyards in fragmented landscapes. J. Environ. Manag. 162, 290–298 (2015)
Pallottino, F., Biocca, M., Nardi, P., Figorilli, S., Menesatti, P., Costa, C.: Science mapping approach to analyze the research evolution on precision agriculture: world, EU and Italian situation. Precis. Agric. 19, 1011–1026 (2018)
Rovitis 4.0. http://www.rovitisveneto.it. Accessed 25 Sept 2021
Siciliano, B., Khatib, O.: Handbook of Robotics. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32552-1
Acknowledgements
Research funded by Regione del Veneto, P.S.R. 2014–2020, Operational Group Project “Rovitis 4.0” for the deployment of an autonomous robot connected to a DSS for a sustainable and efficient management of the vineyard.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Biocca, M. et al. (2022). Rovitis 4.0: An Autonomous Robot for Spraying in Vineyards. In: Biocca, M., Cavallo, E., Cecchini, M., Failla, S., Romano, E. (eds) Safety, Health and Welfare in Agriculture and Agro-food Systems. SHWA 2020. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol 252. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98092-4_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98092-4_19
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-98091-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-98092-4
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)