A Robotic Simulation for Aerial Monitoring and Disease Detection of Gladiolus Field

Arisha Saeed Akkas; Nimra Ejaz; Kanwal Atif; Maria Anjum; Syed Atif Mehdi

Authors

Arisha Saeed Akkas Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan
Nimra Ejaz Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan
Kanwal Atif University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9734-2896
Maria Anjum Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan
Syed Atif Mehdi University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

Keywords:

Simulation, UAV, Robot Operating System, Disease Detection, Precision Agriculture

Abstract

Agriculture is an essential sector that is witnessing the integration of advanced technologies to improve productivity and efficiency. Aerial crop monitoring using drones has surfaced as a pivotal technology for precision agriculture, allowing farmers to collect detailed data regarding crop health, soil conditions, and pest infestations. A robotic farm monitoring system in simulation can provide an initial platform to test various automated services before deploying them in the real field. This paper presents an agricultural robotic simulator currently developed for the gladiolus field. Simulation has been designed using V-REP (now known as CoppeliaSim) and Robot Operating System (ROS). Autonomous path planning and navigation are achieved through Hector Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) and Rapidly Exploring Random Trees (RRT). One of the most common and fatal diseases of the gladiolus plant named ’Fusarium yellow’ has been successfully detected through image processing. This simulation is specifically designed to save resources and reduce the time and cost of developing and testing real-time autonomous aerial robotic systems and test algorithms for crop monitoring. Usability evaluation of the developed system through user survey shows positive results.

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