• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.142-151
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• 2022

With the advent of the 4th industrial revolution, autonomous driving technology is being commercialized in various industries. However, research on autonomous driving so far has focused on platforms with wheel-type platform. Research on a tracked platform is at a relatively inadequate step. Since the tracked platform has a different driving and steering method from the wheel-type platform, the existing research cannot be applied as it is. Therefore, a path-tracking algorithm suitable for a tracked platform is required. In this paper, we studied a path-tracking algorithm for a tracked platform based on a GPS sensor. The existing Pure Pursuit algorithm was applied in consideration of the characteristics of the tracked platform. And to compensate for "Cutting Corner", which is a disadvantage of the existing Pure Pursuit algorithm, an algorithm that changes the LAD according to the curvature of the path was developed. In the existing pure pursuit algorithm that used a tracked platform to drive a path including a right-angle turn, the RMS path error in the straight section was 0.1034 m and the RMS error in the turning section was measured to be 0.2787 m. On the other hand, in the variable LAD algorithm, the RMS path error in the straight section was 0.0987 m, and the RMS path error in the turning section was measured to be 0.1396 m. In the turning section, the RMS path error was reduced by 48.8971%. The validity of the algorithm was verified by measuring the path error by tracking the path using a tracked robot platform.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.159-165
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• 2019

'4th Industrial Revolution' is accelerating as a core part of creating new growth engines and enhancing competitiveness of businesses. The fourth industrial revolution means the transformation of society and industries that are brought by IoT (Internet of Things), big data analysis, AI (Artificial Intelligence), and robot technology. Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which is a major factor, is affecting production and manufacturing systems and as ICT technologies become more advanced, intelligent information technology is generally utilized in all areas of society, leading to hyper-connected society where new values are created and developed. ICT technology is not just about connecting devices and systems and making smart, it is about constantly converging and harmonizing new technologies in a number of fields and driving innovation and change. It is no exception to the agro-fisheries trade. In particular, ICT technology is applied to the agricultural sector, reducing labor, providing optimal environment for crops, and increasing productivity. Due to the nature of agriculture, which is a labor-intensive industry, it is predicted that the ripple effects of ICT technologies will become bigger. We are expected to use the Smart Concentration using ICT convergence technology as a useful resource for changing smart farms, and to help develop new service markets.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2024

Robotic arms have been widely utilized in various labor-intensive industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, and food services, contributing to increasing productivity. In the development of industrial robotic arms, camera sensors have many advantages due to their cost-effectiveness and small sizes. However, estimating object positions is a challenging problem, and it critically affects to the robustness of object manipulation functions. This paper proposes a method for estimating the 3D positions of objects, and it is applied to a pick-and-place task. A deep learning model is utilized to detect 2D bounding boxes in the image plane, and the pinhole camera model is employed to compute the object positions. To improve the robustness of measuring the 3D positions of objects, we analyze the effect of lens distortion and introduce a false positive filtering process. Experiments were conducted on a real-world scenario for moving medicine bottles by using a camera-based manipulator. Experimental results demonstrated that the distortion removal and false positive filtering are effective to improve the position estimation precision and the manipulation success rate.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.270-278
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• 2022

This study was conducted using deep learning technology to classify for 'Mihwang' peach maturity with RGB images and fruit quality attributes during fruit development and maturation periods. The 730 images of peach were used in the training data set and validation data set at a ratio of 8:2. The remains of 170 images were used to test the deep learning models. In this study, among the fruit quality attributes, firmness, Hue value, and a^* value were adapted to the index with maturity classification, such as immature, mature, and over mature fruit. This study used the CNN (Convolutional Neural Networks) models for image classification; VGG16 and InceptionV3 of GoogLeNet. The performance results show 87.1% and 83.6% with Hue left value in VGG16 and InceptionV3, respectively. In contrast, the performance results show 72.2% and 76.9% with firmness in VGG16 and InceptionV3, respectively. The loss rate shows 54.3% and 62.1% with firmness in VGG16 and InceptionV3, respectively. It considers increasing for adapting a field utilization with firmness index in peach.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.134-141
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• 2014

Purposes: This study was to validate the Robotic Smart Work System that can provides better working conditions and high productivity in unstructured environments like bio-industry, based on a tele-operation system for fruit harvesting with low cost 3-D positioning system on the laboratory level. Methods: For the Robotic Smart Work System for fruit harvesting and cultivation management in agriculture, a vision based tele-operating system and 3-D position information are key elements. This study proposed Robotic Smart Farming, an agricultural version of Robotic Smart Work System, and validated a 3-D position information system with a low cost omni camera and a laser marker system in the lab environment in order to get a vision based tele-operating system and 3-D position information. Results: The tasks like harvesting of the fixed target and cultivation management were accomplished even if there was a short time delay (30 ms ~ 100 ms). Although automatic conveyor works requiring accurate timing and positioning yield high productivity, the tele-operation with user's intuition will be more efficient in unstructured environments which require target selection and judgment. Conclusions: This system increased work efficiency and stability by considering ancillary intelligence as well as user's experience and knowhow. In addition, senior and female workers will operate the system easily because it can reduce labor and minimized user fatigue.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.205-217
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• 2020

In this study, a deep learning-based tillage boundary detection method for autonomous tillage by a tractor was developed, which consisted of image cropping, object classification, area segmentation, and boundary detection methods. Full HD (1920 × 1080) images were obtained using a RGB camera installed on the hood of a tractor and were cropped to 112 × 112 size images to generate a dataset for training the classification model. The classification model was constructed based on convolutional neural networks, and the path boundary was detected using a probability map, which was generated by the integration of softmax outputs. The results show that the F1-score of the classification was approximately 0.91, and it had a similar performance as the deep learning-based classification task in the agriculture field. The path boundary was determined with edge detection and the Hough transform, and it was compared to the actual path boundary. The average lateral error was approximately 11.4 cm, and the average angle error was approximately 8.9°. The proposed technique can perform as well as other approaches; however, it only needs low cost memory to execute the process unlike other deep learning-based approaches. It is possible that an autonomous farm robot can be easily developed with this proposed technique using a simple hardware configuration.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.8-23
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• 2011

Weeds are one of the major constraints to crop production in organic farming systems. This paper reviews major results and techniques achieved with physical, cultural, and biological weed control and their perspectives in organic agriculture. Physical methods includes mechanical, thermal, lighting, electrocution, pneumatic, autonomous robot weeding control techniques. Cultural weed control methods includes mulching, tillage, crop rotation, cover crops and crop competition. Physical and cultural weed control techniques are especially important in organic farming crops where other weed control options are limited or not available without use of herbicides. Biological weed control includes mycoherbicides, innundative biological control, broad-spectrum biological control and allelopathy. Successful weed management in organic farming requires well managed integrated systems of mechanical control using newly developed machines, cultural control and biological control methods. Weed management decision-aid models may also needed to develop to provide greater assurance of achieving profitability and appropriate long-term weed management in organic farming in the future.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.284-290
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• 2013

This study analyzed the geometric, compressive, cutting and friction properties of oriental melons in order to design a gripper capable of soft handling and a cutter for cutting oriental melon vine among the end effector of oriental melon as a preliminary step for developing the end effector of the robot capable of harvesting oriental melons in protected cultivation. As a result, the average length, diameter at the midpoint, weight, volume and roundness of the oriental melons were 108 mm, 70 mm, 188 g, 333 mL and 3.8 mm. Nonlinear regression analysis was performed on the equation $W=L^a{\times}D_2^b$ with variation of the length (L) and diameter (D2) of the weight (W) of the oriental melons. As a result, it was shown that there was a correlation between a of 2.0279 and b of -0.9998 as a constant value. The average diameter of the oriental melon vine was 3.8 mm, and most vines were distributed within a radius of 5 mm from the center. The average yield value, compressive strength and hardness of the oriental melons were $36.5N/cm^2$, $185.7N/cm^2$ and $636.7N/cm^2$, respectively. The average cutting force and shear strength of the oriental melon vines were $2.87{\times}10^{-2}\;N$ and $5.60N/cm^2$, respectively. The maximum friction coefficient of the oriental melons was rubber of 0.609, followed by aluminium of 0.393, stainless steel of 0.177 and teflon of 0.079. It was considered possible to apply it to the size of the gripper and cutter, turning radius, dynamics of drive motor and selection of materials and their quality in light of the position error and safety factor according to the movement when designing end effector based on the analyzed data.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.123-130
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• 2014

Oriental melon (Cucumis melo var. makuwa) should be cultivated on the soil and be harvested. It is difficult to find because it is covered with leaves, and furthermore, it is very hard to grip it due to its climbing stems. This study developed and tested oriental melon harvesting robots such as an end-effector, manipulator and identification device. The end effector is divided into a gripper for harvest and a cutter for stems. In addition, it was designed to control the gripping and cutting forces so that the gripper could move four fingers at the same time and the cutter could move back and forth. The manipulator was designed to realize a 4-axis manipulator structure to combine orthogonal coordinate-type and shuttle-type manipulators with L-R type model to rotate based on the central axis. With regard to the identification device, oriental melon was identified using the primary identification global view camera device and secondary identification local view camera device and selected in the prediction of the sugar content or maturity. As a result of the performance test using this device, the average harvest time was 18.2 sec/ea, average pick-up rate was 91.4%, average damage rate was 8.2% and average sorting rate was 72.6%.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.129-134
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• 2018

Recently, the artificial neural network (ANN) model is a promising technique in the prediction, numerical control, robot control and pattern recognition. We predicted the outside temperature of greenhouse using ANN and utilized the model in greenhouse control. The performance of ANN model was evaluated and compared with multiple regression model(MRM) and support vector machine (SVM) model. The 10-fold cross validation was used as the evaluation method. In order to improve the prediction performance, the data reduction was performed by correlation analysis and new factor were extracted from measured data to improve the reliability of training data. The backpropagation algorithm was used for constructing ANN, multiple regression model was constructed by M5 method. And SVM model was constructed by epsilon-SVM method. As the result showed that the RMSE (Root Mean Squared Error) value of ANN, MRM and SVM were 0.9256, 1.8503 and 7.5521 respectively. In addition, by applying the prediction model to greenhouse heating load calculation, it can increase the income by reducing the energy cost in the greenhouse. The heating load of the experimented greenhouse was 3326.4kcal/h and the fuel consumption was estimated to be 453.8L as the total heating time is $10000^{\circ}C/h$. Therefore, data mining technology of ANN can be applied to various agricultural fields such as precise greenhouse control, cultivation techniques, and harvest prediction, thereby contributing to the development of smart agriculture.