IJSRD - International Journal for Scientific Research & Development| Vol.
3, Issue 02, 2015 | ISSN (online): 2321-0613
Autonomous Farmer Assistant Bot (AFAB)
Aadil Momin1 Anurag Mishra2 Pratik Nandoskar3 Swapnali Sawant4 M.A. Devmane5
1,2,3,4,5
Department of Computer Science & Robotics Engineering
1,2,3,4,5
PVPPCOE, Mumbai, India
Abstract— Autonomous Farmer Assistance Bot is an
intelligent model for daily farming activities. It has the
ability to perform functions which are cumbersome for
farmers. It can clean the weeds which is a threat to crops
along with it can sow seeds and reap the harvest. These
activi-ties seem simple to the human being but they are a
challenge for a robot to do it. The Pick-Pluck-Plant
algorithm is used in to do the specific tasks. Sensors play an
important role in its functioning. We have chosen the Sharp
IR sensors and IR proximity sensors for environment
sensing. Efforts are made to perform image processing and
real time data analysis using a camera mounted on its top.
Key words: Autonomous Farmer Assistant Bot, Pick-Pluck-
Plant algorithm, Sharp IR Sensors, Proximity Sensors,
Environment Sensing, Data Analysis
I. INTRODUCTION TO ATMEGA 2560
The Fire Bird V robot is the 5th in the Fire Bird series of
robots. First two versions of the robots were designed for the
Embedded Real-Time Systems Lab, Department of
Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay. Theses
platforms were made commercially available from the
version 3 onwards. All the Fire Bird V series robots share
the same main board and other accessories. Different family
of microcontrollers can be added by simply changing top
microcontroller adapter board. Fire Bird V supports
ATMEGA2560 (AVR), P89V51RD2 (8051) and LPC2148
(ARM7) microcontroller adapter boards. This modularity in
changing the microcontroller adapter boards makes Fire
Bird V robots very versatile. You can also add your own
custom designed microcontroller adapter board. [1]
Let us understand the basics of using Atmega
2560.Starting with its General Architecture.
A. General Architecture:
Here is general overview of Atmega2560 architecture
Fig. 1: General Architecture of AFAB
B. Fire Bird V ATMEGA2560 Technical Specification:
1) Microcontroller: Atmel ATMEGA2560 as Master
microcontroller (AVR architecture based
Microcontroller)
2) Atmel ATMEGA8 as Slave microcontroller (AVR
architecture based Microcontroller) [1]
1) Sensors:
Three white line sensors (extendable to 7) Five Sharp
GP2Y0A02YK IR range sensor (One in default configu-
ration) Eight Analogue IR proximity sensors Two position
encoders (extendable to four) Battery voltage sensing
Current Sensing (Optional) Five MaxBotix Ultrasonic
Range Sensors (Optional) [1].
2) Indicators:
2 x 16 Characters LCD Buzzer and Indicator LEDs Con-
trol: Autonomous Control PC as Master and Robot as Slave
in wired or wireless mode [1].
3) Communication:
USB Communication Wired RS232 (serial) communica-tion
Wireless ZigBee Communication (2.4GHZ) (if XBee
wireless module is installed) Wi-Fi communication (if Wi-Fi
module is installed) Bluetooth communication (if Bluetooth
wireless module is installed) Simplex infrared
communication (From infrared remote to robot)[1].
4) Dimensions:
Diameter: 16cm Height: 8.5cm Weight: 1100gms
5) Power:
9.6V Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery pack and
external Auxiliary power from battery charger. On-board
battery monitoring and intelligent battery charger[1]
6) Battery Life:
2 Hours, while motors are operational at 75% of time.
7) Locomotion:
Two DC geared motors in differential drive configuration
and caster wheel at front as support Top Speed: 24cm/sec
Wheel Diameter: 51mm Position encoder: 30 pulses per
revolution Position encoder resolution: 5.44 mm[1]
II. CONCEPT OF AFAB
With the design of arena and armature complete, we have a
certain expectation of how the whole system should work.
The working is explained with the help of flow chart in
Figure. 2 shown below.
Where junction corresponds to part where two lines
in-tersect in the path and point corresponds to part which
has no further line ahead of it. As we can see in the flow
chart the robot starts with moving forward when it reach-es
a junction it stops and then performs sensing i.e. it
determines whether there is a tree with laden with fruits or
there are weeds or nothing is present. Depending upon the
sharp sensor reading the robot determines whether to pick/
pluck/ plant. When it reaches a point then it makes sure that
there is no path ahead then it stops [3].
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Fig. 2: Flow Chart
III. EXISTING SYSTEM
Fruit plucking robot
Fruit plucking robot (FPR) was implemented in the an-nual
robotic competition E-Yantra organized by Embed-ded and
real time system lab IIT Bombay in 2013 with the following
characteristics
1) This robot is capable of plucking fruits from
modular trees with the power to differentiate
between ripe and unripe fruits [1].
2) It is also capable navigating in the arena with or
with-out assistance [1].
3) It also has capability of collision avoidance with
the trees and other robots if any [1].
A. Limitations:
AFAB has certain limitations to keep in mind while
operating on it
1) The gripper is designed to catch fruits which are
rectangular or square in shape.
2) The white line sensors are extra sensitive to
surrounding light hence requires a dark enclosure.
3) Servo motor ports are very less.
4) Battery life is very less.
IV. PROPOSED SYSTEM
The proposed system comprises of multitasking ability such
as fruit plucking, seed sowing, weed plucking and ploughing
it also has ability to take decision autonomously through our
pick pluck plant algorithm which empowers it to be decisive
[4]. We have discussed in depth the working of AFAB in
section-III
Autonomous Farmer Assistant Bot (AFAB)
(IJSRD/Vol. 3/Issue 02/2015/096)
V. DESIGNING ARM FOR THE ROBOT
Fig. 3: Arm for the Robot
AFAB requires an armature to do farming activities it is
very significant to design an armature for AFAB keeping in
mind the limitations of the robot[2].
We have designed an armature which requires three
servo motors, metallic plates and base frame [2]. We have
depicted the same in the fig above. Here are the
specifications of the arm:
A. Dimensions:
 Height – 35 cm
 Width - 22 cm
 Load carrying capacity- 50gms
In our project we have designed armature specifically to lift
square boxes of dimensions 5cms that is our ripe fruit and
weeds of 15*5cms. We have mounted sharp IR sen-sors
which serve as an eye for the robot by detecting fruits and
weeds.
VI. DESIGNING PATH FOR THE ROBOT
Path is a primary aspect of AFAB [2]. Since this project is a
model depiction on use of Atmega2560 we require a path to
run the robot keeping the limitations in mind. We have
designed a model of our path w.r.t to its limitations as
shown below
Fig. 4: Arena of Our Robot
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 Autonomous Farmer Assistant Bot (AFAB)
(IJSRD/Vol. 3/Issue 02/2015/096)

As you can see there are four sections viz Fruits Seeds
Weeds, Dig. These sections depict the activity AFAB will
perform in the respective area. The overall specification of
arena is 6*6 ft. of flex.

VII. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE

AFAB has proven to be efficient in implementing the
concept of a robot which is powerful enough to help the
ailing farmers to increase their output thereby achieving
financial stability.
With the advent of more advance technologies
AFAB can be enhanced into a more real world application.
Google’s work on the project of driverless vehicle can be
associated with AFAB’s future chance of enhancement on
tractors.

VIII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
E-YANTRA IIT BOMBAY is fully and whole heartedly
acknowledged for their guidance to us by being a part of
their robotics competition in 2013.
We also acknowledge our HOD Mrs Asha Rawat and
project guide Prof. Mahavir Devmane for thier inspiring and
motivational guidance.

REFERENCES
[1] Sachitanand Malewar, NEX Robotics Pvt. Ltd.,
“Hardware and software manuals of
ATMEGA2560”, E-Yantra , 2013
[2] Abhimanyu Bhargava ,Rohit Narule and Satish
Kumar, DayalBagh education institute
“Autonomous Robot navigation of corners with
certain sensors information using Fuzzy control” ,
E-Yantra -2013
[3] Gurulingesh Goud, Neera Sharma IIT-B, “Efficient
Real Time support for Automatic application”,
E-Yantra-2013
[4] Gurulingesh Ratani, Vipul Shigde ERTS IIT-B,
“Merge Algorithm for intelligent vehicle “, E-
Yantra-2013

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