Aerial spraying with robots has attracted the attention of farmers in recent years. This study introduces “AgRoHedral”, an innovative design for agricultural spraying drones. This configuration integrates four servo motors to control the angles of four propeller axes, thereby overcoming the limitations of conventional under-actuated multirotors. A detailed mathematical model is developed for this system. The sloshing of fluid inside the container is modeled as the vibration of a variable-mass pendulum, connected by a spherical joint with viscous friction. To align the conditions for comparison between the AgRoHedral and conventional sprayers, controllers are designed based on sliding mode control. Factors are defined to enable a precise comparison between AgRoHedral (h) and a conventional spraying quadrotor(c) in terms of energy usage, sloshing and overall performance. AgRoHedral exhibited superior transient and steady-state behaviors, particularly in sloshing behavior (Sloshing Factor: \(SF_h=0.31\) vs. \(SF_c=6.58\) ), due to its ability to move without rotating its body and its enhanced actuation system. This improvement was achieved without an increase in power usage compared to conventional spraying multi-rotors (Power Consumption Factor: \(PCF_h=1.87\) vs. \(PCF_c=1.89\) corresponding to a comparison factor of 0.99%). As a result, the enhanced stability contributed to the increased Maximum Safe Velocity in aggressive maneuvers by 50% ( \(MSV_h=9\) m/s vs. \(MSV_c=6\) m/s). Also, the omni-directional spraying is introduced and discussed as another capability of the AgRoHedral, solving many challenges in spraying trees. This research aligns with project SAC-1, one of the objectives of our laboratory, Sharif AgRoLab.

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A Novel Agricultural Spraying Aerial Robot (AgRoHedral): Performance Improvement in the Presence of Sloshing Effect

  • Ali Kafili Gavgani,
  • Amin Talaeizadeh,
  • Aria Alasty,
  • Hossein Nejat Pishkenari

摘要

Aerial spraying with robots has attracted the attention of farmers in recent years. This study introduces “AgRoHedral”, an innovative design for agricultural spraying drones. This configuration integrates four servo motors to control the angles of four propeller axes, thereby overcoming the limitations of conventional under-actuated multirotors. A detailed mathematical model is developed for this system. The sloshing of fluid inside the container is modeled as the vibration of a variable-mass pendulum, connected by a spherical joint with viscous friction. To align the conditions for comparison between the AgRoHedral and conventional sprayers, controllers are designed based on sliding mode control. Factors are defined to enable a precise comparison between AgRoHedral (h) and a conventional spraying quadrotor(c) in terms of energy usage, sloshing and overall performance. AgRoHedral exhibited superior transient and steady-state behaviors, particularly in sloshing behavior (Sloshing Factor: \(SF_h=0.31\) vs. \(SF_c=6.58\) ), due to its ability to move without rotating its body and its enhanced actuation system. This improvement was achieved without an increase in power usage compared to conventional spraying multi-rotors (Power Consumption Factor: \(PCF_h=1.87\) vs. \(PCF_c=1.89\) corresponding to a comparison factor of 0.99%). As a result, the enhanced stability contributed to the increased Maximum Safe Velocity in aggressive maneuvers by 50% ( \(MSV_h=9\) m/s vs. \(MSV_c=6\) m/s). Also, the omni-directional spraying is introduced and discussed as another capability of the AgRoHedral, solving many challenges in spraying trees. This research aligns with project SAC-1, one of the objectives of our laboratory, Sharif AgRoLab.