This paper presents a mechanical control method for precise weeding based on deep learning. Deep convolutional neural network was used to identify and locate weeds. A special modular weeder was designed, which can be installed on the rear of a mobile platform. An inverted pyramid-shaped weeding tool equipped in the modular weeder can shovel out weeds without being contaminated by soil. The weed detection and control method was implemented on an embedded system with a high-speed graphics processing unit and integrated with the weeder. The experimental results showed that even if the speed of the mobile platform reaches 20 cm/s, the weeds can still be accurately detected and the position of the weeds can be located by the system. Moreover, the weeding mechanism can successfully shovel out the roots of the weeds. The proposed weeder has been tested in the field, and its performance and weed coverage have been verified to be precise for weeding.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.