Evaluation of Labor-saving and Economic Efficiency through a Demonstration Test of a Robot for Assisted Transport in a Mandarin Orchard

Abstract

In this study, we developed a new transport-assistant robot with tracking and autonomous driving functions. The purposes of this study are 1) to evaluate labor savings and 2) to evaluate the economic efficiency of the robot in a mandarin orchard. The results of the labor-saving effects were as follows: the time required for fertilizer application, herbicide application, and harvesting and transport with the introduction of the robot was reduced when compared to the conventional method. The results of the economic evaluation of nine people in a mandarin orchard are follows: 1) In the “labor-saving model,” which estimates the effect of reduced work hours, the income of the “labor-saving model” was not significantly different from the conventional model; and 2) in the “farmland expansion model,” in which farmland is expanded to the limit the work hours of nine people, the income of the farmland expansion model was higher than in the conventional model.