Intelligent Agricultural Robotics: A Comprehensive Review of Recent Advances, Applications, and Emerging Challenges

Abstract

Agriculture is undergoing a major transformation with the increasing adoption of robotic systems aimed at improving productivity, reducing labor dependence, and enabling precision farming practices. Agricultural robots have emerged as an important technology in modern agriculture to improve productivity and achieve precise agricultural operations. The integration of robotic systems into agricultural fields has been enabled by recent advancement in computer vision technologies such as sensing technologies and autonomous navigation systems, allowing intelligent autonomous robots to perform tasks with minimum human intervention. This review paper presents a study on intelligent robots for agriculture with a focus on various vision sensors including Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) cameras, thermal cameras, spectral cameras, and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), along with their advantages, limitations, and agricultural applications. The paper also summarizes major agricultural robotic applications including seeding, harvesting, weeding, precision spraying, and crop monitoring. In addition, the paper discusses the practical challenges faced in the realworld deployment of agricultural robots.