Deep learning-based Crop Row Detection for Infield Navigation of Agri-Robots

De Silva, Rajitha, Cielniak, Grzegorz, Wang, Gang and Gao, Junfeng (2023) Deep learning-based Crop Row Detection for Infield Navigation of Agri-Robots. Journal of Field Robotics . ISSN 1556-4959

Full content URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/rob.22238

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Deep learning-based Crop Row Detection for Infield Navigation of Agri-Robots
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Abstract

Autonomous navigation in agricultural environments is challenged by varying field conditions that arise in arable fields.
State-of-the-art solutions for autonomous navigation in such environments require expensive hardware such as RTK-GNSS. This paper presents a robust crop row detection algorithm that withstands such field variations using inexpensive cameras. Existing datasets for crop row detection does not represent all the possible field variations. A dataset of sugar beet images was created representing 11 field variations comprised of multiple grow stages, light levels, varying weed
densities, curved crop rows and discontinuous crop rows.
The proposed pipeline segments the crop rows using a deep
learning-based method and employs the predicted segmentation mask for extraction of the central crop using a novel
central crop row selection algorithm. The novel crop row
detection algorithm was tested for crop row detection performance and the capability of visual servoing along a crop
row. The visual servoing-based navigation was tested on a
realistic simulation scenario with the real ground and plant
textures. Our algorithm demonstrated robust vision-based
crop row detection in challenging field conditions outperforming the baseline.

Keywords:visual servoing, Autonomous systems, Agricultural Robots, UNet, robotic vision, row detection, arable fields
Subjects:H Engineering > H671 Robotics
G Mathematical and Computer Sciences > G760 Machine Learning
D Veterinary Sciences, Agriculture and related subjects > D470 Agricultural Technology
G Mathematical and Computer Sciences > G740 Computer Vision
Divisions:COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND SCIENCE > Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology
ID Code:55690
Deposited On:14 Aug 2023 15:06

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