2015 Volume 53 Issue 2 Pages 63-70
To quickly enhance the productivity of intelligent greenhouses, quality control is needed at agricultural production sites, along with a speaking plant approach to monitor the growth conditions of plants and avoid diseased and underdeveloped plants. We are developing a multi-operation robot equipped with units that contain functions to solve the problem of the instability of environmental factors and subsequent crop yield. Growth-information, pest-detection, and pest-control units were developed for the multi-operation robot and effectively linked to report their actions in order to construct a suitable integrated pest management technology for intelligent greenhouses. The information gathering and various operations were automated by designing each unit to operate autonomously. The system was designed to detect abnormalities by mapping the information provided by the growth-information and pest-detection units. It can then determine the invasion diffusion course of the pest, which makes it easy to take appropriate prophylaxes. Furthermore, the system makes safer working conditions possible because it enables the natural dispersal of ozonated water as a preventive measure. We can expect a further reduction in pesticide consumption by adding a function to disperse a pesticide locally when pests are detected.
