Hortibot is a tool carrier capable of traversing a field of row crops starting at one of the field corners. It follows the row of crops using a row camera from ECO-DAN (now acquired by Claas Agrosystems) and at the end of the row it turns using a gyro sensor and drives back along the neighboring row etc.
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| Hortibot 2007 Mobile Robotics |
Several implements were made for the Hortibot, the most notable being a cell sprayer prototype. Cameras continously take pictures of the ground and the images are analyzed to determine the location of crops and weed within the image. A row of nozzles placed behind the cameras are then activated so that only cells (4x10cm) where weed have been detected will be sprayed.
Hortibot which was selected as one of 'The Best Inventions Of The Year 2007' by Time Magazine.
Hortibot is based on a Spider ILD2 slope mower from Dvorak and has been retrofitted with a Field Robotics Embedded Computer (FiRECom) the predecessor to FroboMind. Sensors installed are wheel angle encoders, a row camera and a gyro.