May 2018
Here are some of lecture slides about "Automation and Robotics in Agriculture", these are presented by Dr. Manoj Karkee during SET Farm Sustainable Engineering Tools for Agricultural Robotics and Mechanization SET-FARM 2 – 2017, summer school held in Pulchowk Campus, Nepal dated on 18 to 20 June 2017. These slides are provided by Dr, Karkee for us reader and we publish with his permission. Please do not miss use these files.

The main topics in these slides are:
MODELING, IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF A TRACTOR AND TOWED IMPLEMENT SYSTEM
o   Background
o   Open and closed loop analysis
o   System sensitivity analysis
o   Parameter estimation and model validation

Automation and Robotics in Agriculture
o   Center for Precision and Automated Ag Systems (CPAAS)
o   Present condition: Problem, solution
o   Why automation
o   Past success
o   current progress


UASs IN AGRICULTURE OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
o   CPAAS: CENTER FOR PRECISION AND AUTOMATED AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS
o   UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS - UAS
o   UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles)
o   REMOTE SENSING
o   CROP MONITORING
o   HLB (CITRUS GREENING) DISEASE DETECTION
o   UAV FOR BIRD DETERRENCE
o   AUTOMATED BIRD DETECTION
o   AUTONOMOUS SPRAYING IN NAPA VALLEY
o   BATTERY SWAPPING

Automated fresh market tree fruit harvesting
o   Center for Precision and Automated Ag Systems (CPAAS)
o   Why Automated Harvesting?
o   Brief Historical Account
o   Tree Fruit Harvesting Research at WSU
o   Studies on Catching and Handling Surfaces
o   Automation for Bin Handling
o   more
         Apple and Cherry Harvesting
         Apple and Raspberry Pruning
         Intelligent Bin Transport System
         Automated Weed Control In Vegetables
         Water and Nitrogen Stress Sensing
         Solid Set Canopy Delivery System
         UASs for Production Agriculture

Automated Weed Control in Vegetable Crops
o   Methods to control weed
o   Available Technologies: Crop Thinning with Precision Chemical Application, Blueriver Technology Ramsay Highlander, Precision Cultivation Poulsen Engineering Precision Flaming
o   Crop Signaling-based Automated Weed Control in Vegetable Crops
o   Crop Signaling
o   Mechanical Weeding
o   Automatic Intra-row Mechanical Weed Control System
o   Precision Chemical Weeding
o   Robotic Platform and System Integration
o   Machine Vision-based Weed Detection

You can just click the link down to read/download.

About Manoj Karkee
Dr. Manoj Karkee is from Bhojpur, Nepal. Now, he is Associate Professor at Biological Systems Engineering Department, Center for Precision & Automated Agricultural Systems, IAREC – Washington State University, USA. He has completed Bachelor of Computer Engineering in 2002 from Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University Nepal and Master’s Degree in Remote Sensing and GIS from Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand. Then, he spent the next five years in Ames, Iowa working on his doctoral research and education, earning his PhD in Agricultural Engineering and Human Computer Interaction from Iowa State University in 2009.
Now, Dr. Karkee is working in Washington State University (WSU) as Associate Professor since 2010 where he leads a strong research program in agricultural automation and mechanization area with a emphasis on machine vision and sensing technologies for agricultural automation and robotics.
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