Human–robot collaboration in agricultural robots

Yael Edan, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

Chapter synopsis: Agricultural robots are being developed for many on-farm tasks; however, in practice, current working agricultural robotic systems are limited and fully robotized farms are not yet available. This chapter presents initial work carried out in the domain of human–robot collaboration in agriculture and provides directions about how it should be further adopted to enable successful robotization of agricultural operations. The chapter discusses the various interaction roles a human may have with a robot and also the levels of human–robot collaboration. Aspects of interface design are also included, and human–robot collaborative tasks such as detection, navigation, harvesting and spraying are discussed. The chapter concludes with a look on the future of agricultural robotics where the role of humans in agriculture will not be eliminated by introducing robotic systems, and should more autonomous systems become feasible, humans will still be needed for supervision and collaboration.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2019.0056.22