Integrated positioning method based on UWB and RTK-GNSS for seamless navigation of poultry robots

Abstract

This study presents a versatile poultry robot that could move within or outside the field of view to patrol poultry farms. Meanwhile, the robot was also capable of performing tasks including removing dead chicks, picking up floor eggs, turning over wet litter and weighing birds. A method to combine ultra-wideband (UWB) network with real-time kinematic global positioning satellite system (RTK-GNSS) technology was proposed to maximize the localization performance of the robot both indoors and outdoors. The robot could also accurately move along the feed basin line with visual guidance, and the experimental results show that its average positioning accuracy indoor and outdoor was 40 cm.