Fundamentals in agriculture and food

Advancements in Field Machinery 
Significant advancements in field machinery have been made in the 20th 
century with the introduction of tractors and an increasingly wide range of farm 
implements to mechanize crop production. The accomplishment has 
established a sturdy groundwork for mechanization, augmenting the efficiency, 
dependability, and accuracy of farming equipment while diminishing the 
requirement for human involvement, hence boosting productivity.
Examples of automation and control can be found in many agricultural 
operations, but the variation in agricultural systems worldwide poses a 
challenge for making generalizations (Schueller, 2006; Singh, 2002). 
Automatic guidance, autonomous vehicle and robots
Automatic guidance systems have been developed to release operators 
from constantly making steering changes during agricultural operations 
(Keicher and Seufert,2000; Torii ,2000; Reid et al.,2000 and Wilson,2000). 
Furnish exemplary citations on automated vehicle control studies conducted in 
diverse nations. An auto-guidance system typically includes hardware 
components such as a steering angle sensor, a position sensor, a path planner, 
and a steering actuator, as well as software components such as a steering 
controller and a navigation controller. The position sensor provides the 
measured position of the vehicle, which is then compared to the desired position 
provided by the path planner. Based on the difference between the measured 
and desired positions, the navigation controller estimates the necessary steering 
control angle. Subsequently, the steering controller calculates an appropriate 
steering control signal by considering the difference between the measured and 
desired steering angles and sends it to the steering actuator for execution. E/H 
(electrohydraulic) steering systems are frequently used in modern agricultural 
vehicles, and improvements in each of the system parts are continuously being 
made (Grewal et al.,2020). 
Autonomous vehicles take this technology even further, allowing 
machines to operate with minimal human intervention. Equipped with sensors 
such as GPS, LIDAR, and cameras, these vehicles can navigate through fields, 
plant seeds, spray crops, and harvest produce (Slaughter et al.,2008). The use 
of robots in agriculture is also gaining popularity, as they can perform tasks 
such as pruning, weeding, and fruit picking with high precision and speed. 

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159 | FUNDAMENTALS IN AGRICULTURE AND FOOD 
These robots use advanced sensing technologies like machine vision to detect 
crops and make precise movements (Sorensen et al.,2006). Together, these 
technologies have the potential to increase efficiency, reduce labor costs, and 
improve yield quality in agriculture.