Hybrid Systems based Modeling and Control of Heterogeneous Agricultural Robots for Field Operations

Abstract. Future agriculture is being developed based on robotization and automation. Recently, researches on collaboration and cooperative control of agricultural multiple robots are in the limelight. In this paper, the heterogeneous agricultural robot system is modeled through a hybrid system approach and a supervisory controller is designed for cooperation. Automata theory is used for the formal modeling method, and the agricultural robot system consists of three unmanned aerial vehicles and one unmanned ground robot. The supervisor is designed to enable heterogeneous agricultural robots to perform field operations, avoid obstacles, get in the desired formation, and follow the given path. The proposed supervisor is implemented into the virtual 3D simulator, and the hybrid system based approach has proven to be effective for controlling heterogeneous robots. In addition, hybrid systems are much easier to handle complex dynamic systems, such as heterogeneous agricultural robot systems, than conventional control theory and have the potential for scalability and changeability.