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== Group members ==
== Group members ==
* David van den Beld, 1001770
* David van den Beld,   1001770
* Gerben Erens, 0997906
* Gerben Erens,         0997906
* Luc Kleinman, 1008097
* Luc Kleinman,         1008097
* Maikel Morren, 1002099
* Maikel Morren,       1002099
* Adine van Wier, 0999813
* Adine van Wier,       0999813


== Project ==
== Project pages ==
For all the branches of the project diverging from the initial set-up and planning, please see their respective pages;


=== Project Statement ===
* [[General Literature Review]]
The problem of deforestation is one of tremendous scale, and therefore exploration of multiple solutions to it is a necessity. Combatting deforestation can be done in 2 ways, either by reduction of the amount of trees being chopped down, or by increasing the amount of new trees being grown. As the latter is the one which is most likely to be achievable by means of technology than the first, our focus will be on increasing the amount of new trees being grow.
* [[Extended Literature Review]]
This project investigates whether the robotics could be used to effectively to this extend. To accomplish this we envision a robotic vehicle which at least the following 3 technological aspects:
* [[Case studies]]
* [[User and product analysis]]
* [[Designing the robot]]
* [[User interface and communication model]]
* [[Project documentation]]
* [[Project reflection]]


I. A way to check whether or not the soil is fertile, and thus fit to plant a new forest.
This page itself is dedicated to general information about the project, i.e. problem statement, goal, planning, etc..


II. A device capable of planting the seeds deep enough in the ground to ensure good growing chances for the seed.
== Project ==


III. A way to transport itself around, which will most likely result in wheels, as this is the most achievable option within this course.
=== Project Statement ===
Wildfires are occurring throughout the world at an increasing rate. Great droughts in various regions across the globe are increasing the probability of wildfires to occur. National parks deal with major wildfires multiple times a year. Areas devastated by wildfires are mostly devoid of life, while potentially still having an extremely fertile soil containing all the biomass left after the fire. Artificial reforestation can accelerate the natural process which accounts for the regrowth of the forests. This process might be enhanced by means of technology, for example by deploying robots that plant seeds of saplings in these areas. <br>


This envisioned robot leads to the first and main objective of this project: a prototype. This prototype will feature the before mentioned technological aspects, with the main focus being on aspects I and II, as these are technologies more specific to our envisioned robot. Beyond this, we aim to make a model based around the physics working on the robot, which can help us gain more theoretical insight in the working of the robot.  
This project investigates the possibility and potential of utilizing robots to restore these devastated areas to their former glory. In order to investigate this possibility, a thorough analysis of different methods of reforestation is made first. By comparing methods of reforestation a great deal can be learned about which negative aspects of the current reforestation methods should be enhanced by a new reforestation robot. Also, this analysis will explore if a new method of reforestation is needed at all. Beyond this, two case studies are investigated. These case studies show how reforestation and forest fires are currently being handled. The case help studies help to get a better understanding of what the robot should be able to do and what it ought not to be able to do and thus help to define design criteria. <br>
Whilst doing this, we want to do research considering this robots influence on society, and how society can stimulate the development of this technology, considering both society as a whole, and the governments influence separately. Also, the relation between this product and the enterprises interested in it has to be research, as most of the technology will have to come from them, and they might be a big investor.  


Finally, multiple preliminary designs are made for the seeding mechanism of the robot which would accomplish all necessities found during the analysis of the different reforestation methods and which follows all the criteria discovered in the case studies. Out of these designs, the one ranking highest on the criteria unraveled during the literature review and case studies is chosen to be the best suitable seeding mechanism for the future robot.  Additionally, a design is made for a user interface that will allow the staff of a national park to control a swarm of robots in a user-friendly and non time consuming way. Lastly, some suggestions for future research are given, in the topics of what other crucial functionalities the robot requires, how the robots would be able to communicate among themselves during operation, and how the robots would be able to communicate with the user in case of unforeseen circumstances. To conclude, this project aims to assess the necessity of a robot to rebuild a forest in a national park after a forest fire, discover the functionalities such a robot must have and design a user interface to control such robots based on the gained information.


=== Planning ===
=== Planning ===


Below follows the planning for the project for the upcoming 9 weeks constituting the course 0LAUK0 Project: Robots Everywhere
Below follows the planning for the project for the upcoming 9 weeks constituting the course 0LAUK0 Project: Robots Everywhere.
 
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: left; color: black; border:1px solid black; border-collapse: collapse;" border="1"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: left; color: black; border:1px solid black; border-collapse: collapse;" border="1"
|+ '''Table 1: Preliminary planning for the project'''
|+ '''Table 1: Final project planning after revision problem statement and goals'''
! Week number
! Week number
! Task
! Task
! Person<sup>*</sup>
! Person assigned
|-
|-
| 1
| 1
Line 95: Line 101:
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Compile list of potential robot designs
| Research different application sectors for reforestation to narrow problem statement: <br>
| Collaborative effort of all members
# Reforestation in logging industry <br>
# Reforestation in national parks after forest fires <br>
# Reforestation in nature reserves and rain forests <br>
| All divided into categories: <br>
# Adine & Maikel <br>
# David & Gerben <br>
# Luc
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Make some concept design sketches
| Make preliminary robot designs for the following seeding mechanisms:
| Maikel
# Drilling robot <br>
# Sprinkler robot <br>
# Plow robot <br>
| Divided into:
# David <br>
# Gerben <br>
# Maikel <br>
|-
|-
| 3
|  
|  
| Make a preliminary list of required parts
| Gerben
|-
|  
|  
| Define embedded software environment
| Luc
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Preliminary elimination session for designs based on user requirements
| Review and narrowing of problem statement
| Adine
| Collaborative effort of all members
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Start compiling list of design preferences/requirements/constraints
| Extended literature review on specific subject of reforestation: <br>
| David
# Biodiversity and need for control <br>
# Natural reforestation versus artificial reforestation <br>
# Direct seeding (manual seeding) <br>
# Aerial seeding <br>
| All divided into the following categories: <br>
# Collaborative effort of all group members during own research <br>
# David & Adine <br>
# Luc & Gerben <br>
# Maikel <br>
|-
|-
| 3
|
|  
|  
| Rewrite problem statement
| Luc
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Finish list of preferences/requirements/constraints
| Review users for narrowed problem
| Adine
| Adine
|-
|-
| 4
|  
|  
| Further eliminate designs due to constraints
| Collaborative effort of all members
|-
|  
|  
| Rank remaining designs and select a winner
| Collaborative effort of all members
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Develop a building plan/schemata for the winner design
| Edit the general literature review on wiki
| Gerben, Luc
| Maikel
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Start acquiring physical quantities for modelling design
| Research the costs of reforestation methods: <br>
| Maikel, David
# Natural reforestation <br>
# Aerial reforestation <br>
# Manual reforestation <br>
| Divided by: <br>
# Adine <br>
# Maikel <br>
# Luc <br>
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Start with a simple model of some system parameters
| Rewrite segment of need for control and biodiversity into one introductory segement
| Maikel, David
| David
|-
|-
| 4
|
|  
|  
| Start making 3D skechtes of preliminary designs
| Gerben
|-
|-
|  
|
| Commence robot assembly according to highest priority of building schemata
| Document wiki on extended literature review page
| Gerben, David
| Adine
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Continue modelling/simulating
| Start keeping a log of the research and design process
| Maikel
| Adine
|-
|
| Start coding robot functionalities
| Luc
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Catch up on documenting the wiki
| Look for case studies
| Adine
| Maikel & Luc
|-
|-
| 5
| 5
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|-
|-
|  
|  
| Continue robot assembly and coding
| Write case studies
| Gerben, David, Luc
| Maikel & Luc
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Continue modelling/simulating
| Remake planning to fit new goal of the project
| Maikel
| Maikel
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Catch up on documenting the wiki
| Redefine objectives to fit new goal of project
| Collaborative effort of all members
| David
|-
|
| Rewrite drilling mechanism section
| Gerben
|-
|
| Finish a first 3D model
| Gerben
|-
|-
| 6
| 6
Line 187: Line 215:
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Continue robot assembly and coding
| Continue 3D modelling
| Gerben, Luc
| Gerben
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Test the first (few) finished sub-system(s) of the robot.
| Elaborate and extend upon current preliminary designs (including sketch)
| Collaborative effort of all members
| Maikel, Gerben & David
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Finish modelling/simulating
| Write wiki page for case studies
| Maikel, David
| Luc & Maikel  
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Finish catching up on documenting the wiki
| Evaluate designs using criteria from literature study
| Collaborative effort of all members
| Adine
|-
|-
| 7
| 7
Line 207: Line 235:
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Finish robot assembly
| Compile an overview of project progress by week
| Gerben
| Adine
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Make concept designs for possible modules
| Start building a user interface
| Luc
| Luc & Gerben
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Make a draft for final presentation
| Evaluate the project and analyse pitfalls
| Maikel, David, Adine
| Maikel & David
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Test the first (few) finished sub-system(s) of the robot.
| Start making the presentation
| Collaborative effort of all members
| David & Adine
|-
|
| Start an editorial run over the entire wiki
| Maikel
|-
|
| Continue making user interface
| Luc & Gerben
|-
|-
| 8
| 8
Line 226: Line 262:
|  
|  
|-
|-
|  
|
| Buffer time
| Finish writing last segments for the wiki
| Collaborative effort of all members
| Collaborative effort of all members
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Finish final presentation
| Finish final presentation
| Maikel, David, Adine
| Adine, David
|-
|-
|  
|  
| Complete wiki
| Complete wiki
| Gerben, Luc
| Gerben, Luc
|-
|
| Finish editorial run over wiki
| Maikel
|-
|
| Buffer time
| Collaborative effort of all members
|}
|}


<sup>*</sup> The current division of task is a rough estimate for the next 7 weeks. New tasks may pop up or task division may be rotated, and is hence subject to change during the progress of the course.


=== Approach ===
=== Approach ===
The problem will be approached by a design question. What is the best design for a robot to combat deforestation which will be build modular so that it can be implemented for other purposes with minor changes. The first 2 weeks the approach will primarily be sequential, as user analysis, use cases and requirements/preferences/constraints need to be done sequentially before the rest of the project can start. Once this is over, the project will run in a parallel fashion where building and modelling will happen simultaneously.  
The problem will be approached by means of a design question. What would be the best design for an effective seeding mechanism which can be used in a mobile robot deployed in a reforestation operation, and how would this robot be controlled? The gross of the project is carried out sequentially as each subject builds further upon the conclusion reached during the last subject, which is represented in the structure of this Wiki consisting of several subpages corresponding to these subjects. Albeit that the project is carried out sequentially, within each sequence several tasks are divided such that they can be carried out in parallel by different group members. During the last phase of the project, when the major milestones have been finished, the project wrap up consists of several small independent task which will allow us to abandon the sequential structure which was necessary during the other phases and carry out these tasks in parallel to gain in time.
 


=== Milestones and Deliverables ===
=== Milestones and Deliverables ===
Line 255: Line 299:
|-
|-
| 03-05-2018
| 03-05-2018
| User analysis/use cases done
| Have problem narrowed down
|-
| 07-05-2018
| Have a partially eliminated list of designs
|-
| 10-05-2018
| Pick final “winner” design
|-
|-
| 21-05-2018
| 17-05-2018
| Have the first working subsystem
| Finish collecting data about reforestation techniques
|-
|-
| 25-05-2018
| 24-05-2018
| Finish modelling
| Have case studies finished
|-
|-
| 31-05-2018
| 31-05-2018
| Have an operational prototype running <br> with at least 2 subsystems
| Have preliminary designs including 3D model and pick winner design
|-
|-
| 07-06-2018
| 07-06-2018
| Made several concepts for modules
| Have analysis of communication requirements and control sequence
|-
|-
| 11-06-2018
| 14-06-2018
| Finish user interface
|-
| 14-06-2018
| Presentation is finished
| Presentation is finished
|-
|-
| 14-06-2018
| 21-06-2018
| Wiki is completely updated
| Wiki is completely updated
|}
|}
== Literature Review ==
The literature review was divided into 5 subcategories, the results of which will be extended below.
=== Modularity ===
Modular robotics is a useful tool in the design of robots for in-field applications, as building a functional specialised robot from scratch is a time-consuming and cost-intensive process. If a modular design approach is taken, the costs of designing a robot could be severely reduced as one general robotic platform with some general functionalities would serve as the starting point, upon which modules can be placed to give the end-product the desired capabilities. A drawback of this modular design method, however, is that the design space will expand explosively due to the seemingly limitless possible configurations the robot could have (Farritor & Dubowsky, 2001) <ref name= "Mod Robot"> Farritor, S. & Dubowsky, S.. Autonomous Robots (2001) Volume 10, pp57-65. “On Modular Design of Field Robotic Systems”. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026596403167 </ref>. However, this design space can be brought to proportions by severely reducing it, by placing the constraints which arise from the task to be completed by the robot onto the possible configurations (Farritor & Dubowsky, 2001) <ref name= "Mod Robot" />. By doing so any and all designs with but a singular deviation which would compromise the execution of the task are immediately discarded in the earlier stages of development.
Some examples of robots which implemented a modular design and with similar environmental working conditions as our to-be-designed seeding robot include the Small Robotic Farm Vehicle (Bawden et al., 2014) <ref> Bawden, O., Ball, D., Kulk, J., Perez, T., & Russell, R.. Australian Conference on Robotics and Automation (2014). “A lightweight, modular robotic vehicle for the sustainable intensification of agriculture.” </ref>, the 4-wheel steering weed detection robot of Bak and Jakobsen (Back & Jakobsen, 2004) <ref> Bak, T., & Jakobsen, H.. Biosystems Engineering (2004), Volume 87, pp 125-136. "Agricultural robotic platform with four wheel steering for weed detection.". https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2003.10.009 </ref>, the Amphibious Locomotion Robot of Li, Urbina, Zhang and Gomez (Li et al., 2017) <ref> Li, G., Urbina, R., Zhang, H., & Gomez, J. G.. International Conference on Advanced Mechatronic Systems (ICAMechS) (2017), pp 145-150. “Concept design and simulation of a water proofing modular robot for amphibious locomotion.”. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICAMechS.2017.8316566  </ref> and the Reconfigurable Integrated Multi-Robot Exploration System (RIMRES) <ref> Cordes, F., Bindel, D., Lange, C., & Kirchner, F.. Proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space (iSAIRAS’10) (2010), pp. 38-45.  “Towards a modular reconfigurable heterogenous multi-robot exploration system.”</ref>. These robots have in common that they are mostly based on a singular platform, suspended by wheels for locomotion, upon which several modules (e.g. sensors, mechatronic arms, pay-loads, other deployable robots, etc.) can be placed to increase functionality.
A special class of modular robots are the so-called self-reconfigurable modular robots which can change their shape to comply with dynamic environmental constraints and task requirements. Some examples of these self-reconfigurable robots include the I(CES) cubes (Unsal, Kiliccote and Khosla, 1999) <ref> Unsal, C., Kiliccote, H., & Khosla, P. K. (1999, August). “I (CES)-cubes: a modular self-reconfigurable bipartite robotic system.”. In Sensor Fusion and Decentralized Control in Robotic Systems II (Vol. 3839, pp. 258-270). International Society for Optics and Photonics. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.360346 </ref>, M-TRAN (Murata et al., 2002) <ref> Murata, S., Yoshida, E., Kamimura, A., Kurokawa, H., Tomita, K., & Kokaji, S. (2002). “M-TRAN: Self-reconfigurable modular robotic system.” IEEE/ASME transactions on mechatronics, Volume 7, pp431-441. https://doi.org/10.1109/TMECH.2002.806220 </ref>, ATRON (Jorgensen, Ostergaard & Lund, 2004) <ref> Jorgensen, M. W., Ostergaard, E. H., & Lund, H. H. (2004, September). “Modular ATRON: Modules for a self-reconfigurable robot.”. Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2004.(IROS 2004). Proceedings. 2004 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on (Vol. 2, pp. 2068-2073). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS.2004.1389702 </ref>, Modular Robot for Exploration and Discovery (ModRED) (Baca et al., 2014) <ref> Baca, J., Hossain, S. G. M., Dasgupta, P., Nelson, C. A., & Dutta, A. (2014). “Modred: Hardware design and reconfiguration planning for a high dexterity modular self-reconfigurable robot for extra-terrestrial exploration.” Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Volume 62, pp 1002-1015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.robot.2013.08.008</ref>, Polybot (Yim et al., 2003) <ref> Yim, M., Roufas, K., Duff, D., Zhang, Y., Eldershaw, C., & Homans, S. (2003). “Modular reconfigurable robots in space applications.”. Autonomous Robots, Volume 14, pp 225-237. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022287820808 </ref>. Albeit this is an interesting topic of research, for our problem at hand it will not be a feasible solution, since most of these systems are on a mesoscale application, whereas the to-be-designed deforestation robot will be a macroscale prototype.
=== (Semi)-Autonomous Cars ===
The patent on remote control systems granted to Mitsubishi Electric Crop. By the US government. This document is a thorough description of how remote control systems work, listing the necessary parts with the movement detector sensor, transmitter, receiver and a potential display device being the main important ones. (Hashimoto et al., 1996)
<ref> Hashimoto et al. (1996). United States Patent 5554980 Retrieved from: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/eb/4b/ce/ba560b94ae5c1a/US5554980.pdf </ref>
In this article Elon Musk describes his vision for the autonomous car in 2016, even though this year has already passed, it still shows the vision of one of the main developers of autonomous cars. Elon Musk describes certain aspects of autonomous cars, like the mileage on one charge and the way current non-autonomous cars can be turned into autonomous cars by using a software update only. (Kessler, 2015) <ref>
Kessler, A.M. (2015) Elon Musk Says Self-Driving Tesla Cars Will Be in the U.S. by Summer, Retrieved from:
http://www.oharas.com/ET/elonmusk.pdf </ref>
To get our car driving smoothly, we will probably utilize a remote control, meaning that it will be very closely related to a remote controlled toy car, to which this doc. is the current active patent. It shows the state of the art radio controlled toy car technology currently available. (Matsushiro, 1984)
<ref> Matsushiro. (1984). United States Patent 4457101 Retrieved from: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/14/b4/e5/e0e06d46e4cf44/US4457101.pdf
</ref>
One aspect of the autonomous cars is the intelligent pathing. Using communication with other vehicles, a map of dense traffic places can be made, resulting in an optimal route for the car to take. Obstacles are also communicated between different vehicles. (Bagloee, 2016)
<ref>
Bagloee, S.A. et al. (2016). Autonomous vehicles: challenges, oppurtunities and future implications for transportation policies. Journal of Modern Transportation, Vol 24, Issue 4, page 283-303 section 6 Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs40534-016-0117-3
</ref>
A guide to help us control a servo motor with our computer, as a servo motor is the most likely option if we want our car to drive without outside help. It shows how to program and control a servo motor and how to implement one in the electronic circuit.  <ref> http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Dynamically-control-a-servo-or-motor-throug/ </ref>
A short article on the workings of servo motors, the main two interesting reads are the control of the servo and the different types, as we will have to choose one if we opt to use servo’s to drive our car around. (Jameco Electronics, )<ref> Jameco Electronics, Retrieved from: https://www.jameco.com/jameco/workshop/howitworks/how-servo-motors-work.html </ref>
Even though this site is a webshop, and not a scientific article, it shows what technology we can buy within a respectable price range and thus shows what we do not need to make ourselves. Before we start thinking about how to make a part of our robot, lets first check what this shop has got. <ref> https://www.tinytronics.nl/shop/nl </ref>
=== Sensors for prospecting/evaluating ground ===
Evaluating the soil the robot is on can be the defining factor whether it is worth it to plant new seeds in the ground, since an infertile soil will not create a new healthy forest. The design of the robot would benefit from such sensors, since it can utilize this information to determine where to plant the seeds.
Currently the soil can be read with a multitude of sensors. The most simple, but ineffective for our robot, sensor would be to use a simple plant<ref name= "plant Sensor"> Edward M. Barnes, Kenneth A. Sudduth, John W. Hummel, Scott M. Lesch, Dennis L. Corwin, Chenghai Yang, Craig S.T. Daughtry, and Walter C. Bausch, “Remote- and Ground-Based Sensor Techniques to Map Soil Properties”, http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/asprs/pers/2003/00000069/00000006/art00002#
</ref> and determine whether the plant shows sufficient growth. A lot of information can be obtained from the plant, like the salinity, nutrients and available soil moisture.
This is however very inefficient and not desirable for our robot. An alternative would be to use moisture sensors<ref name= "moistureSensor">Boyan Kuang, “On-line Measurement of Some Selected Soil Properties for Controlled Input Crop Management Systems” (2012), https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1826/7939/Boyan_Kuang_Thesis_2012.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y </ref> to determine the amount of water in the ground, since water is a critical component for a plant to grow.
Further sensors include NIR reflectance sensors. These sensors can accurately measure the organic matter within the soil. This leads to an accurate picture whether the soil is fertile enough to plant seeds.
Vis-NIR sensors can also determine the amount of nitrogen and moisture in the soil. Which leads to an even more complete picture of the soil.
Humidity in the air can also help determine whether the area is suitable. An RH sensor<ref name = "humid sensor">Sandra F. H. Correia, Paulo Antunes, Edison Pecoraro, Patrícia P. Lima, Humberto Varum, Luis D. Carlos, Rute A. S. Ferreira, and Paulo S. André, “Optical Fiber Relative Humidity Sensor Based on a FBG with a Di-Ureasil Coating” (2012), http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/12/7/8847
</ref> based on a Bragg grating can determine the relative humidity accurately. The optical fiber used to determine this can also house temperature, pH, pressure and more sensors. This results in a quite complete picture of the environment above the soil and can help determine the suitability for planting the seeds.
The robot can also be used in predetermined areas. Forest fires<ref name= "forest fire">L.M. Zavara, R. De Celis, A. Jordán, “How wildfires affect soil properties. A brief review”(2014), https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/4847440.pdf
</ref>, for example, increase the nitrogen in the soil and in most cases the amount of carbon is also increased. This results in a soil that is suitable and fertile enough to deploy our robot on.
=== Drilling/plowing/seeding mechanism ===
A thing to keep in mind is the cost-effectiveness of the planting method. this article analyses the usage of an auger against the usage of spades.<ref>Preece, N. D., van Oosterzee, P., & Lawes, M. J. (2013). Planting methods matter for cost-effective rainforest restoration. Ecological Management and Restoration, 14(1), 63-66. doi:10.1111/emr.12017</ref> While the article concludes that spades are more cost-efficient, the easier development and the lower priority of manhours would still make the auger a better option for this project.
This article shows how direct seeding is viable and what parameters have effect.<ref>Atondo-Bueno, E. J., López-Barrera, F., Bonilla-Moheno, M., Williams-Linera, G., & Ramírez-Marcial, N. (2016). Direct seeding of oreomunnea mexicana, a threatened tree species from southeastern mexico. New Forests, 47(6), 845-860. doi:10.1007/s11056-016-9548-2</ref> Using the appropriate sensors to measure these parameters would greatly benefit the project.
A kinematic analyses of an auger system<ref>Bogdanof, G. C., Moise, V., Visan, A. L., & Ciobanu, G. V. (2017). Kinematic analysis of soil drilling mechanism used in afforestation. Paper presented at the Engineering for Rural Development, , 16 653-658. doi:10.22616/ERDev2017.16.N131 Retrieved from www.scopus.com</ref> can be of great help when developing the seeding system for this project.
Development of a mobile powered hole digger for orchard tree cultivation using a slider-crank feed mechanism<ref>Zong, W. Y., Wang, J. L., Huang, X. M., Yu, D., Zhao, Y. B., & Graham, S. (2016). Development of a mobile powered hole digger for orchard tree cultivation using a slider-crank feed mechanism. International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 9(3), 48-56. doi:10.3965/j.ijabe.20160903.1784</ref> gives another example of the design of an auger design, which doesn't straight up work for this case but gives some insights and can be used in this design.
An auger experiences certain loads during drilling. A mechanical analysis of the auger<ref>Cheng, Wei & Wang, Hongliu & Liu, Tianxi. (2013). Mechanical model of hollow-external-screw drill rod for lunar soil particle vertical conveying. IEEE International Conference on Control and Automation, ICCA. 1240-1245. 10.1109/ICCA.2013.6565063.</ref> could help in selecting the right parts for the job. This analysis has been done for bigger scale work on the moon, but is still relevant due to the use of variables which can be evaluated for their earth counterpart.
=== Reforestation and Forest Fires ===
Fires in the Yellowstone National Park cause burn severities around the Park. Fires of different sizes cause different ecological responses. The location of the fire has the biggest influence on the biotic response of the ecosystem. Severely burned areas mainly know pine seedlings while having less vascular species than before the fire. The bigger the burned down area, the more tree seedlings sprout, and the lower the general species diversity is. (Turner, M.G. et al. 1997)
<ref>
Turner, M.G. et al. (1997). Effects of fire size and pattern on early succession in Yellowstone National Park, Ecological Monographs 67(4) pp. 411-433 Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9615(1997)067[0411:EOFSAP]2.0.CO;2
</ref>
In recent years a lot of deforestation has occured in Latin America and the Caribbean. But a lot of forest recovery has also sprouted, partly caused by demographic and socio-economic change. This is the main factor influencing change in wood growth. Woody vegetation change was dominated by deforestation in 2001-2010 (-542 thousand km^2), but 362 thousand km^2 was recovered. As woody vegetation depends so heavily on deforestation and reforestation these need to be controlled more extensively. (Aide, T.M. et al. 2013)
<ref>
Aide, T.M. et al. (2013), Deforestation and Reforestation of Latin America and the Caribbean (2001-2010) BIOTROPICA 45(2): 262-271 Retrieved from: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2012.00908.x
</ref>
=== Current deforestation and combat methods ===
Deforestation is clearing Earth’s forests on a massive scale, often resulting in damage to the quality of land. The world’s rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years at current rate of deforestation. Consequences of deforestation are the loss of habitat for millions of species and climate changes. The most feasible solution to deforestation is to carefully manage forest resources by eliminating clear-cutting to make sure forest environments remain intact. The cutting that does occur should be balanced by planting young trees to replace older trees felled. The number of new tree plantations is growing each year, but their total still equals a tiny fraction of the Earth’s forested land. (Geographic, 2015) <ref> National Geographic. (2015, April). Deforestation. Retrieved from National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation/ </ref>
Rehabilitation of deforestation areas can have different steps. It can include anti-erosion works, projects for slope formation and protection and reforestation. The prototype will focus on reforestation. The forest service takes into account the type of vegetation that has been burned, the success potential of natural regeneration of trees and the general conditions, and, accordingly, shall proceed, or not, to artificial reforestation of burnt areas using native species. The purpose of reforestation is the creation of new forests, the renewal of mature forests and the recovery of degraded forest ecosystems while ensuring natural regeneration or artificial intervention (seeding or planting) for production purposes and the protection of soils. The cost of reforestation in the last 8 years was enormous due to many manhours. (Christopoulou, 2011) <ref> Christopoulou, O. (2011). Deforestation/ reforestation in Mediterranean Europe: The Case of Greece. Soil Erosion Studies, 3-30. </ref>
This website reviews many different ways for reforestation. Almost all methods are based on man work, people are physically present and are planting the seeds themselves: direct seeding. One method that is currently used that does not involve a person physically being where the seed is planted is called aerial seeding. This method plants new seeds using planes and helicopters. This method is much more efficient than being physically present on the ground but is generally outside the budget of most reforestation projects. (David, 2015)<ref> David. (2015, January ). Reforestation Methods Reforestation Projects. Retrieved from Reforestation: https://reforestation.me/reforestation-methods/ </ref>
Seeds of different species have different optimal depths for sowing, with some growing best if they are buried a few inches deep in the soil, while others, including many grasses and herbs, need exposure to light to germinate and so need to be on the surface. A rule of thumb when growing vegetables and grains is to sow the seed at a depth of one to two times the width of the seed. If seeds of one species, or a mixture of seeds of different species with different needs are randomly mixed in a larger seed ball, at least some of the seeds should be in the optimal position for germination. This optimizes reforestation. (Goosem & Tucker, 2013)<ref> Goosem, S., & Tucker, N. (2013). Repairing the Rainforest . Cairns: Wet Tropics Management Authority and Biotropica Australia Pty. </ref>
=== Current use of Robotics Technology in seeding/reforestation activities ===
The use of machinery in agriculture, the logging industry and nature upkeep is commonplace, however the application of autonomous robotic technology is still rather in its infancy. Some robotics solutions exist in these field, which are primarily categorised in 2 classes: a mobile robotic class and a drone class. Examples in the mobile robotic class include the R-Stepps project to combat desertification (Mohamed, Flavien & Pierre, 2015) <ref> Mohamed, Z., Flavien, V., & Pierre, B. (2015, October). Mobile robotics for restoring degraded ecosystems. In Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC), 2015 IEEE (pp. 273-278). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/GHTC.2015.7343984 </ref> and the Agribot to plant seeds on farming land (Pavan et al., 2017) <ref> Pavan, T. V., Suresh, R., Prakash, K. R., & Mallikarjuna, C. (2017). Design and Development of Agribot for Seeding. </ref>. Examples in the drone class include the Treek'lam (Sinalkar & Phade, 2016) <ref> Sinalkar, S., & Phade, G. (2016, December). Treek'lam. In Global Trends in Signal Processing, Information Computing and Communication (ICGTSPICC), 2016 International Conference on (pp. 611-614). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICGTSPICC.2016.7955373 </ref> and 
== Project pages ==
For all the branches of the project diverging from the literature review, please see their respective pages
* [[User analysis]]
* [[Desinging the robot]]
* [[Building the model]]
* [[Model]]
== Bibliography ==
<references />

Latest revision as of 09:55, 21 June 2018

Group members

  • David van den Beld, 1001770
  • Gerben Erens, 0997906
  • Luc Kleinman, 1008097
  • Maikel Morren, 1002099
  • Adine van Wier, 0999813

Project pages

For all the branches of the project diverging from the initial set-up and planning, please see their respective pages;

This page itself is dedicated to general information about the project, i.e. problem statement, goal, planning, etc..

Project

Project Statement

Wildfires are occurring throughout the world at an increasing rate. Great droughts in various regions across the globe are increasing the probability of wildfires to occur. National parks deal with major wildfires multiple times a year. Areas devastated by wildfires are mostly devoid of life, while potentially still having an extremely fertile soil containing all the biomass left after the fire. Artificial reforestation can accelerate the natural process which accounts for the regrowth of the forests. This process might be enhanced by means of technology, for example by deploying robots that plant seeds of saplings in these areas.

This project investigates the possibility and potential of utilizing robots to restore these devastated areas to their former glory. In order to investigate this possibility, a thorough analysis of different methods of reforestation is made first. By comparing methods of reforestation a great deal can be learned about which negative aspects of the current reforestation methods should be enhanced by a new reforestation robot. Also, this analysis will explore if a new method of reforestation is needed at all. Beyond this, two case studies are investigated. These case studies show how reforestation and forest fires are currently being handled. The case help studies help to get a better understanding of what the robot should be able to do and what it ought not to be able to do and thus help to define design criteria.

Finally, multiple preliminary designs are made for the seeding mechanism of the robot which would accomplish all necessities found during the analysis of the different reforestation methods and which follows all the criteria discovered in the case studies. Out of these designs, the one ranking highest on the criteria unraveled during the literature review and case studies is chosen to be the best suitable seeding mechanism for the future robot. Additionally, a design is made for a user interface that will allow the staff of a national park to control a swarm of robots in a user-friendly and non time consuming way. Lastly, some suggestions for future research are given, in the topics of what other crucial functionalities the robot requires, how the robots would be able to communicate among themselves during operation, and how the robots would be able to communicate with the user in case of unforeseen circumstances. To conclude, this project aims to assess the necessity of a robot to rebuild a forest in a national park after a forest fire, discover the functionalities such a robot must have and design a user interface to control such robots based on the gained information.

Planning

Below follows the planning for the project for the upcoming 9 weeks constituting the course 0LAUK0 Project: Robots Everywhere.

Table 1: Final project planning after revision problem statement and goals
Week number Task Person assigned
1
Choose definitive subject Collaborative effort of all members
Define problem statement and objectives David
Define users Adine
Obtain user requirements Gerben
Work out typical use cases Luc
Define the milestones and deliverables Maikel
Define the approach of the problem Collaborative effort of all members
Search for relevant state-of-the-art (SotA) sources, categories:
  1. Modularity
  2. (Semi-) Autonomous cars
  3. Sensors for prospecting/evaluating ground
  4. Drilling/plowing/seeding mechanism
  5. Current Forestation combat methods
All divided into the subcategories:
  1. Maikel
  2. David
  3. Luc
  4. Gerben
  5. Adine
Make project planning Collaborative effort of all members
2
Review user requirements and use cases Collaborative effort of all members
Finish collecting SotA articles and write SotA section Each member for their respective subcategory
Research different application sectors for reforestation to narrow problem statement:
  1. Reforestation in logging industry
  2. Reforestation in national parks after forest fires
  3. Reforestation in nature reserves and rain forests
All divided into categories:
  1. Adine & Maikel
  2. David & Gerben
  3. Luc
Make preliminary robot designs for the following seeding mechanisms:
  1. Drilling robot
  2. Sprinkler robot
  3. Plow robot
Divided into:
  1. David
  2. Gerben
  3. Maikel
3
Review and narrowing of problem statement Collaborative effort of all members
Extended literature review on specific subject of reforestation:
  1. Biodiversity and need for control
  2. Natural reforestation versus artificial reforestation
  3. Direct seeding (manual seeding)
  4. Aerial seeding
All divided into the following categories:
  1. Collaborative effort of all group members during own research
  2. David & Adine
  3. Luc & Gerben
  4. Maikel
Rewrite problem statement Luc
Review users for narrowed problem Adine
4
Edit the general literature review on wiki Maikel
Research the costs of reforestation methods:
  1. Natural reforestation
  2. Aerial reforestation
  3. Manual reforestation
Divided by:
  1. Adine
  2. Maikel
  3. Luc
Rewrite segment of need for control and biodiversity into one introductory segement David
Start making 3D skechtes of preliminary designs Gerben
Document wiki on extended literature review page Adine
Start keeping a log of the research and design process Adine
Look for case studies Maikel & Luc
5
Write case studies Maikel & Luc
Remake planning to fit new goal of the project Maikel
Redefine objectives to fit new goal of project David
Rewrite drilling mechanism section Gerben
Finish a first 3D model Gerben
6
Continue 3D modelling Gerben
Elaborate and extend upon current preliminary designs (including sketch) Maikel, Gerben & David
Write wiki page for case studies Luc & Maikel
Evaluate designs using criteria from literature study Adine
7
Compile an overview of project progress by week Adine
Start building a user interface Luc & Gerben
Evaluate the project and analyse pitfalls Maikel & David
Start making the presentation David & Adine
Start an editorial run over the entire wiki Maikel
Continue making user interface Luc & Gerben
8
Finish writing last segments for the wiki Collaborative effort of all members
Finish final presentation Adine, David
Complete wiki Gerben, Luc
Finish editorial run over wiki Maikel
Buffer time Collaborative effort of all members


Approach

The problem will be approached by means of a design question. What would be the best design for an effective seeding mechanism which can be used in a mobile robot deployed in a reforestation operation, and how would this robot be controlled? The gross of the project is carried out sequentially as each subject builds further upon the conclusion reached during the last subject, which is represented in the structure of this Wiki consisting of several subpages corresponding to these subjects. Albeit that the project is carried out sequentially, within each sequence several tasks are divided such that they can be carried out in parallel by different group members. During the last phase of the project, when the major milestones have been finished, the project wrap up consists of several small independent task which will allow us to abandon the sequential structure which was necessary during the other phases and carry out these tasks in parallel to gain in time.


Milestones and Deliverables

Table 2: Milestones
Date Accomplished
30-04-2018 SotA research done
03-05-2018 Have problem narrowed down
17-05-2018 Finish collecting data about reforestation techniques
24-05-2018 Have case studies finished
31-05-2018 Have preliminary designs including 3D model and pick winner design
07-06-2018 Have analysis of communication requirements and control sequence
14-06-2018 Finish user interface
14-06-2018 Presentation is finished
21-06-2018 Wiki is completely updated
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