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Robotics in Agriculture

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Robotics

Synonyms

Agricultural robotics; Agro-food robotics; Agrobotics; Precision agriculture

Definition

Agricultural robotics is the study, development, and application of robotic technologies to agricultural practices. Robotic systems are applied to agriculture in order to improve the productivity of breeding and cultivation of plants and animals for food, fiber, fuel, and chemicals.

Overview

Agriculture, Subfields, and Stages in the Production Chain

Agricultural production can be broadly separated into intensive crop farming, horticulture, and animal husbandry. Intensive crop farming, also known as arable farming or broadacre farming, refers to the large-scale production of plants that are harvested at the same time such as grains, potato, oilseeds, and fiber crops. Horticultural production occurs on a smaller scale and includes the production of fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants which often need selective harvesting such as tomatoes, apples, cucumbers, and cabbage. Animal husbandry...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Farm Technology, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Gert Kootstra & Eldert J. van Henten

  2. Australian Centre for Field Robotics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Asher Bender

  3. Institute for Future Environments, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Tristan Perez

Authors
  1. Gert Kootstra
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  2. Asher Bender
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  3. Tristan Perez
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  4. Eldert J. van Henten
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gert Kootstra .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering Blk 1E Gillman Hts #17-43, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Marcelo H Ang

  2. Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Oussama Khatib

  3. Dipto di Informatica e Sistemistca, Univ di Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy

    Bruno Siciliano

Section Editor information

  1. Australian Centre for Field Robotics, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Salah Sukkarieh

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Kootstra, G., Bender, A., Perez, T., van Henten, E.J. (2020). Robotics in Agriculture. In: Ang, M., Khatib, O., Siciliano, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Robotics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41610-1_43-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41610-1_43-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-41610-1

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