International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
Abstract
Danish organic outdoor gardeners today use 50-300 hours per hectare for manual weeding.
Through automatic controlling of an existing commercial machine this often heavy and costconsuming
weeding will be eliminated. At the same time, a fully-automatic registration of field
activities will contribute to the efficient implementation of EU directive 178/2002 concerning
traceability in the primary production and thereby enhance the food-safety in the production
chain. A radio controlled slope mower is equipped with a new robotic accessory kit. This
transforms it into a tool carrier (HortiBot) for high-tech plant nursing for e.g. organic grown
vegetables. The HortiBot is capable of passing over several parcels with visible rows
autonomously based on a new commercial row detection system from Eco-Dan a/s, Denmark.
This paper presents the solutions chosen for the HortiBot with regard to hardware, mechanicalelectrical
interfaces and software. Further, the principles from a Quality Function Deployment
(QFD) analysis was used to carry out the solicitation, evaluation and selection of most qualified
design parameters and specifications attained to a horticultural robotic tool carrier. The QFD
analysis provided a specific measure to evaluate each selected parameter in terms of satisfying
user requirements and operational performance aspects. Based on a combination of importance
rating and competitive priority ratings important user requirements include easy adaptation to
field conditions in terms of row distance and parcel size, profitability, minimum crop damage
during operation, and reliability. Lesser importance was attributed to affection value, attractive
look, the possibility of out of season usage, and the use of renewable energy