Area Yield Performance Evaluation of a Nonchemical Weeding Robot in Organic Farming

Abstract

Vision-based detection and classification systems for identifying crops and weeds have recently been extensively researched and build the foundation for autonomous nonchemical weed management. One crucial part of nonchemical weed management is the mechanism that controls the weeds. This paper evaluates a mechanical intra-row cutting tool in comparison to the state-of-the-art manual weed management. The mechanism was evaluated under normal commercial growing conditions in a controlled organic carrot field of our cooperation partner Westhof Bio GmbH in Friedrichsgabekoog, Germany.