Robotics meets farming
A local farmer’s field has been turned into an outdoor robotics lab.
Dr. Alex Ramirez-Serrano from the Schulich School of Engineering (Department of Mechanical Engineering) at the University of Calgary and his research team of multidisciplinary grad students have been using Royal Stewart’s private airfield, on the east side of Mountain View County, for training and preliminary testing purposes (via remote control) with a revolutionary robotic helicopter.
The Yamaha RMAX Helicopter is not a simple remote control helicopter though, despite outward appearances. With various sensors, computer components and image processing equipment this helicopter has been designed with the goal of helping farmers in mind.
Ramirez-Serrano says there has been interest in using this type of technology to survey crops, help better manage resources and monitor levels of water and fertilizer in fields.
Currently some farmers use satellite images to gather information such as moisture levels about their crops. These images are then sent over to Europe or other locations, where the images are analyzed and the information is collected and then sent back to the farmer. Unfortunately, this method of monitoring has a few drawbacks.
To begin with, it takes about two to three weeks (depending on the information needed) for farmers to get their results back. Robotics like the RMAX helicopter would allow farmers instant access to the necessary information on a daily basis if needed.
“By the time they get the result back, conditions may have changed,” says Ramirez-Serrano. “Or if it’s cloudy, or foggy for example, it will affect what can be seen in the satellite images.”
While developing the helicopter and other novel robotic aerial vehicles, some of which are being displayed at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, Ramirez-Serrano and his team had three goals in mind: They wanted to keep the missions quick; they wanted to be able to deploy it in complex situations; and they wanted it to be user friendly.
“We don’t want the user to have to worry about programming it, or fixing it, they should just be able to operate (i.e., deploy) the robot and collect and view the data in an effective way,” he said.
Besides the advantage the technology would be to farmers (i.e., lower costs for crop dusting, active crop and resources management, etc.), the design process is proving valuable for the designers themselves.
“For the students it is a big opportunity. They get educated and receive financial support through grants,” he said.
The grad students have played a vital role in the development of the helicopter, combining their areas of expertise.
“There are electrical and mechanical engineering students, computer programming students working on the interfaces and computer science students working on the image processing, just to name a few of the areas involved in the work,” he said.
The helicopter itself is a mix of materials and devices found in any vehicle. The motor is actually a two-stroke Yamaha motorcycle engine - but after the propellers, sensors and a few other technical and aesthetic touches are added, there is no resemblance to a motorcycle at all. The electronics portions of the helicopter have been designed by a number of companies including Yamaha, and most of them are all designed from scratch, which can be time consuming, he said.
A basic prototype without computers costs about $150,000 and once assembled it weighs about 150 pounds.
“We would like it to be a bit lighter, so we can increase its payload,” he said, noting that they would also like to work on increasing the flight time of the robotic. Unpredictable outdoor weather conditions is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to both designing and working with the helicopter to solve complex problems and help in civilian applications.
Although the helicopter weighs over 100 pounds, strong wind gusts (over 30 km/h) can make it a challenge to manually operate and use its sensors effectively. The use of computers to control the vehicle makes it easier to deploy and collect the needed sensor information.
“Maybe the user is trying to take pictures of the land or livestock in the wind, the pictures may be blurry,” he said. “Or flying in strong winds can affect how long its fuel lasts; in wind the helicopter will typically use more fuel, depending on its fly pattern.”
Smaller objects, or thin objects such as power lines and tree branches, can also pose a problem.
“In a number of missions (e.g., crop dusting) flying vehicles have to be able to navigate around low objects (e.g., trees), equipment, all while collecting its data,” he said.
The RMAX helicopter is an ongoing project where the designers are constantly thinking of ways to advance the technology and job capabilities of the robot.
In the future there are hopes that the robotic helicopter may be able to help farmers monitor their livestock and better manage their resources such as water, and fertilizer usage.
“We’re hoping that the helicopter or other robotics will be able to detect and identify cattle or other livestock and record the size and health of the animal,” he said.
One idea is to tag the animals and then use electronic beacons, which will be used by the aerial vehicle to gather the information when and if needed.
“But some farmers don’t want to be using beacons and tags with their animals,” he said, adding that they have discussed the idea of using computer image processing techniques and other ways to monitor the livestock.
“There are many ideas floating around right now,” he said.
This type of technology has great potential and can be used in a large number of tasks while saving time, money, resources, and increasing the quality of the farmers’ products, he said.