Development of Navigation System in Field Robot for Forest Management

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of using a mobile, autonomous robot to manage a forest whose trees are destined for eventual harvesting. This was accomplished by 1) computing a trajectory for the robot in advance of its entrance into the forest, and 2) developing a program and equipping the robot with the instruments needed to follow the trajectory. Computation of a trajectory in a forest is facilitated by treating the trees as vertices in a graph. Current, laser-based instruments make it possible to identify individual trees and compute distances between them. With this information, a forest can be represented as a weighted graph. This graph can then be modified systematically in a way that allows for computing a Hamiltonian circuit that passes between each pair of trees. Our robot "SOMA" built on an ATV platform, was able to follow a part of the trajectory computed for this small forest, thus demonstrating the feasibility of forest maintenance by an autonomous, labor-saving robot.