Reliable low cost sensors and systems for the navigation of autonomous robots in pot crop nurseries

First results about the development of a reliable low cost navigation control system for an autonomous robotic platform are presented in this paper. The robot and its navigation system were conceived to operate in pot-plant nurseries, where simpler and more robust solutions can be adopted respect to open field. In pot-plant nurseries crops layout is usually very regular with pots arranged in plots on compact soil. Hence the navigation control can be carried out tracking a fixed ground reference, such as a ribbon, lied in the middle of the inter-rows. Different kinds of sensors were tested (optical infrared, capacitive and inductive). The best performances were achieved employing proportional inductive sensors coupled with a ribbon composed by metallic materials. The same solution was adopted to identify headlands and to maneuver in automatic way the robotic platform at the end of each plot.