Implementation of in-row weeding robot with novel wheel, assembly and wheel angle adjustment for slurry paddy field

In recent years, the demand on food product has been increasing. Paddy cultivation needs new weed controlling methods, since paddy cultivation supplies major food demands, also weeding in the paddy fields impacts the production considerably. Paddy fields are structured field which have plants in rows and columns with around one foot from each other under system of rice intensification (SRI) methods and paddy fields are slurry in nature. Autonomous in-row robot which moves on the planned path with weed remover, covering minimum two sides of the paddy plants will be ideal. Autonomous mobile robot needs the perfect wheel mechanism which will not disturb the rooted plants. Robotic solution adds no greenhouse gas, improves pollution index when replacing oil engine-based equipment. From study, the research gap on suitable wheel to fit for slurry field mini robot is found. In this paper, a new design and development of In-row mini mobile robot suitable to work autonomously in the slurry paddy field using novel wheel and wheel angle adjustment assembly are proposed. The screw wheel is designed using “Solidwork” 3D designing software, and printed using non-metallic 3D printer. The structure of the robot is designed and fabricated in the metal works. Optimization of wheel position to reach optimum turning angle is also achieved through field experiments. The optimum angle of wheel position was found to be around 35 degrees with error value of ± 2 degrees. It can be furthered investigated for different vehicle dynamics parameter.