ADVANCING PEST MANAGEMENT FOR GRAPES AND BERRIES WITH ROBOTIC SPRAYING SYSTEM

Pesticides play an important role in crop production by reducing crop loss and thereby helping to stabilize production. However, excessive use of pesticides has brought huge negative impacts to the environment and human health.Robotic precision pesticides application proposed in this project aims to address this issue in small fruit crops production such as grapes and berries. A robotic sprayer will be developed based on an unmanned ground robot, which can autonomously drive in a field with pre-set maps and spray based on canopy density. The sprayer will be evaluated with a series of field trials for pesticides application in a vineyard and a raspberry field. The performance in terms of chemical usage and working efficiency will be compared to a conventional sprayer. It is expected to significantly reduce chemical usage for small fruit growers and minimize the human involvement during spray operations. The results from this project will be disseminated to the grower communities through various extension activities such as articles, workshops, field demonstration, and adoption survey. In a long term, the precision and robotic spraying technologies developed in this project will enhance the sustainability of the small fruits industry in the U.S.