Advancing Efficiency in Agricultural Automation: A Kinematic Model for a Parallel 4-DoF SCARA System

Robotics has become an interesting field of study in the automation of agricultural practices. Currently, various robots have been made available for industrial applications. In light of the growing importance of agriculture, there has been an increasing demand for robots that can efficiently perform agricultural tasks while significantly reducing task completion time. This article addresses this need by presenting the design and development of a mathematical model for a novel SCARA robot to perform some agricultural tasks such as weed detection and removal, and planting. An ordinary SCARA robot is fixed in a place and performs work using its arm, which is divided into shoulder and elbow movements. The movement of the SCARA robot depends upon accurate estimation of shoulder and elbow joint angles and the size of the shoulder and elbow. We enhanced the ordinary SCARA robot by adding an additional SCARA arm, and both SCARA arms are fixed on a movable vehicle. This proposed type of robot is transportable in an agricultural field. In the present article, we develop a mathematical model for the proposed robot that is capable of moving in an agricultural field and performing tasks such as weed detection and removal, and planting. The proposed work is helpful for the design and development of a robotic system to perform agricultural tasks.