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The authors previously proposed an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) in an orchard as a base platform for autonomous robot systems for performing tasks such as monitoring, pesticide spraying, and harvesting. To control a UGV in a semi-natural environment, accurate self-localization and a control law that is robust under large disturbances from rough terrain are the first priorities. In this paper, a selflocalization algorithm consisting of a 2D laser range finder and the particle filter is proposed. A robust nonlinear control law and a path regeneration algorithm that the authors proposed for underactuated mobile robots are combined with the localization method and applied to a drive-by-wire experimental vehicle. Excellent experimental results were obtained for traveling through a real orchard. The standard deviation of the control error in the lateral direction was less than 15cm.

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Recently the necessity of autonomous or highly functional agricultural equipments is increasing because of decrease and aging of labors for farming. The development of autonomous vehicles in an orchard is required as one of the equipments because an orchard is usually on a hill or mountain where it is very tough for farmers to work. In this research, a new design method of an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) in an orchard is proposed by using image-based control with a central catadioptric camera. A central catadioptric camera is very effective to keep target objects in the camera field of view because of its wide area view. The effectiveness of our proposed method is confirmed by experimental results in an orchard.