Abstract
The purpose of this study was to develop a laser crop row sensor (LCRS) by which an automatic guidance system might be developed. The LCRS consisted of a laser displacement sensor and a motor-driven six-face polygon mirror. The sensor measured section height of crop row without contact, while the horizontal position of the crop row was calculated by a computer. In the laboratory experiments, the LCRS could detect the position of model crops set at a low horizontal plane within a lateral range of 180mm, with a coefficient of determination of more than 0.99. Moreover, the LCRS could follow the crop rows accurately enough with the working speed range of 0.5-1.5m/s in field experiments. The RMS error of positional detection was at most 22.6mm when the working speed was 1.0m/s.
