Basic Research on a Field Scouting Robot Monitoring Crop Progress and Condition (Part 1)

—High-accuracy Acquisition Method of Spectral Reflection—

Abstract

A nighttime sensing method using artificial lighting was devised to stably acquire spectral reflection data that can visualize field conditions. The final goal of this research is to develop a field scouting robot that can automatically observe and map field status. Here, we seek to prove the significance of nighttime sensing and establish a method for obtaining spectral reflection data at night. In daytime sensing, we confirmed that luminance value changed drastically due to clouds, and that the reflection spectral characteristics of sunlight shifted gradually. We succeeded in correcting the brightness deviation, which is a problem when using artificial lighting, and established a method for acquiring data at night.