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A Unified Topological Representation for Robotic Fleets in Agricultural Applications
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  • Gautham Das,
  • Grzegorz Cielniak,
  • James Heselden,
  • Simon Pearson,
  • Francesco Del Duchetto,
  • Zuyuan Zhu,
  • Johann Dichtl,
  • Marc Hanheide,
  • Jaime Pulido Fentanes,
  • Adam Binch,
  • Michael Hutchinson,
  • Pal From
Gautham Das
University of Lincoln - Riseholme Park

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Grzegorz Cielniak
University of Lincoln - Riseholme Park
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James Heselden
University of Lincoln - Riseholme Park
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Simon Pearson
University of Lincoln - Riseholme Park
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Francesco Del Duchetto
University of Lincoln
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Zuyuan Zhu
University of Lincoln
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Johann Dichtl
University of Lincoln
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Marc Hanheide
University of Lincoln
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Jaime Pulido Fentanes
Saga Robotics Think Tank
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Adam Binch
Saga Robotics Think Tank
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Michael Hutchinson
Saga Robotics Think Tank
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Pal From
Saga Robotics Think Tank
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Abstract

Agricultural robots offer a viable solution to the critical challenges of productivity and sustainability of modern agriculture. The widespread deployment of agricultural robotic fleets, however, is still hindered by the overall system’s complexity, requiring the integration of several non-trivial components for the operation of each robot but also the orchestration of robots working with each other and human workers. This paper proposes a topological map as the unifying representation and computational model to facilitate the smooth deployment of robotic fleets in agriculture. This topological abstraction of the system state results in an efficient representation of large-scale environments, but also offers the scalable and efficient operation of the entire fleet and allows for ex-situ modelling and analysis of operations. The practical use of the proposed framework is demonstrated in a horticultural use case with a fleet of robots supporting the work of human fruit pickers. The critical components of the system are analysed and evaluated in deployment in both realistic digital twin and real-life soft fruit farms of different scales, demonstrating the scalability and effectiveness of the proposed framework. The presented framework is general and should be easy to adopt in other multi-robot/multi-human scenarios such as warehouse logistics, cleaning and maintenance of public spaces.
01 Sep 2023Submitted to Journal of Field Robotics
01 Sep 2023Submission Checks Completed
01 Sep 2023Assigned to Editor
01 Sep 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
27 Oct 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
04 Aug 20241st Revision Received
06 Aug 2024Submission Checks Completed
06 Aug 2024Assigned to Editor
06 Aug 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
13 Sep 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned
17 Nov 2024Editorial Decision: Accept