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  4. Automation in steep terrain agriculture: an optimal controller to prevent tipping and slipping of tethered robots on slopes
 
research article

Automation in steep terrain agriculture: an optimal controller to prevent tipping and slipping of tethered robots on slopes

Polzin, Max  
•
Hughes, Josie  
July 2, 2023
Advanced Robotics

Autonomous robots have the potential to fundamentally transform conventional farming methods, e.g. by enabling economically viable farming of sloped arable land. However, navigation on slopes in harsh conditions is challenging for robots as they must be prevented from both slipping and tipping. Tethers provide one means of enabling robots to traverse steep and complex terrains with additional advantages of recoverability and connectivity for data and power transfer. Current controllers (for robot and tether) consider only the slipping condition for such robots, meaning that the tether must be mounted low on the robot. This limits the use case and can lead to entanglements and entrapment of the tether. By introducing stability criteria for tethered robots on slopes and developing a novel controller that seeks to avoid both slipping and tipping, we demonstrate how the tether mount height can be raised from 0.27 to 0.81 m on a robot, to enable, for example, the tether to be used above high crops or obstacles. This controller is demonstrated in lab and field conditions on slopes up to 0.4 radians, which translates to approximately 51% of slope. Thereby, the new controller significantly extends the practical usability of tethered robots for agricultural applications on steep slopes.

  • Details
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Type
research article
DOI
10.1080/01691864.2023.2229901
Web of Science ID

WOS:001018772000001

Author(s)
Polzin, Max  
Hughes, Josie  
Date Issued

2023-07-02

Publisher

TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD

Published in
Advanced Robotics
Subjects

Robotics

•

field robotics

•

steep slope agricultural robots

•

tethered robot modeling and control

•

>

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
CREATE-LAB  
Available on Infoscience
July 17, 2023
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/199105
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