The Design and Physical Implementation of Seeding Robots in Deserts

Abstract

In recent years, the land desertification has become the focus of attention in the desertified countries and areas, restricting the sustainable development of social economy. In order to solve this problem, people carry out the soil and water conservation work, using plants to prevent water and soil erosion. However, since the method of manual planting is not suitable for use in deserts, various kinds of robots are designed to sow seeds in desert areas. Inspired by tumbleweed, a new type of seeding robot in deserts is designed in this paper, which is mainly driven by wind. The robot has low energy consumption and excellent endurance. It is noteworthy that the main source of working energy for the robot is green energy such as wind and solar energy, which has no pollutant emission and is beneficial to environmental protection. In addition, the bionic structure designed for the robot makes it excellent at adapting to rugged terrain, such as sand and rocks. It can cross terrain obstacles that are difficult for the traditional desert robots to surmount. Moreover, the robot has two working shapes, which can well fulfill the requirements of marching and staying. Besides, the special design of seeding device is able to well control the quantity and time of seeding.