Search strategies and the automated control of plant diseases

We propose the use of the "infotaxis" search strategy as the navigation system of a robotic platform, able to search and localize infectious foci by detecting the changes in the profile of volatile organic compounds emitted by and infected plant. We builded a simple and cost effective robot platform that substitutes odour sensors in favour of light sensors and study their robustness and performance under non ideal conditions such as the exitence of obstacles due to land topology or weeds.