Unmanned Agricultural Vehicle Developed to Hoeand Spray with Artificial Intelligence
Ondokuz Mayıs University (OMU) developed an unmanned agricultural vehicle that can perform operations such as hoeing, weed detection and spraying in agricultural lands with the support of artificial intelligence.
OMU-TAR team, founded by OMU Faculty of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cengiz Tepe, designed an unmanned agricultural vehicle that can work autonomously, distinguish between cultivated and wild plants in agricultural lands with the support of artificial intelligence, transfer the locations of plants to the computer with the help of GPS, and can be used manually if desired, with the participation of 7 students from the Faculty of Engineering.
The autonomous agricultural vehicle, which has domestic software and hardware, also works in areas where tractors cannot access by hoeing and spraying, thus saving both time and cost.
The autonomous agricultural vehicle won the second prize in Türkiye in the category of Agricultural Unmanned Ground Vehicles at the International Aviation, Space and Technology Festival (TEKNOFEST) in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cengiz Tepe told AA correspondent that they are proud of the vehicle they developed winning the second prize at TEKNOFEST 3 times in a row.
Stating that the biggest feature of the vehicle they designed is that it is able to move autonomously in the agricultural field, Tepe said “It detects weeds using artificial intelligence-based image processing. If desired, the location of all weeds in the field can be determined.”
Explaining that the vehicle may be easily used in these areas by attaching spraying, seed scattering and fertilization apparatus on it, Tepe said:
“Our vehicle is specially designed for agricultural areas with single-row planting plants. Our vehicle can successfully perform all tasks by entering places where large agricultural vehicles cannot access. At TEKNOFEST 2024 in Adana, we received our award from Selçuk Bayraktar, the role model of the Turkish engineering world, with our team members. We would like to open our vehicle commercially to all farmers in Türkiye and the world with mass production.”
Next Year Their Goal is To Be Ranked First
Elanur İmirgi, a third-year student in the Department of Computer Engineering, said that she was involved in the artificial intelligence part of the vehicle.
Stating that they integrated their own algorithms into the autonomous vehicle, İmirgi said “We used artificial intelligence in our vehicle in order to adapt to the era. We can identify wild plants and take actions accordingly. You will be able to irrigate or spray if you want. We plan to participate in TEKNOFEST next year with the goal of winning first place.”
Samet Eren Çelik, a 4th grade student in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, pointed out that he took part in the coding section to ensure autonomous driving in the study.
Pointing out that his own family is also engaged in agriculture, Çelik said “In this study, our farmers will be able to run their vehicles directly from the ground station without the need for any human being and do all their needs such as hoeing, spraying, irrigation, planting and mowing autonomously on the land they desire. This will help our farmers to reach a higher point in productivity and agriculture.”
Source: Anadolu Ajansı
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