Modified Design of a Precision Planter For a Robotic Assistant Farmer

Chapter 3- Design 
3-1- Design process 
The objective of this research is to design and develop a customized planter to attach to 
the wheeled mobile robot with the limitations and challenges that mentioned in chapter 1. So we 
can say that this masters research project, is actually an engineering design practice, which took 
all the steps needed that an engineering design process requires. 
“To design is either to formulate a plan for the satisfaction of a specified need or to solve 
a problem” [21]. In this case, design is being used to satisfy a specific need: a customized planter 
that our mobile robot can pull. Engineering design process or mechanical engineering design 
process is a series of steps that each designer have to go through, to reach to the solution of the 
problem or to satisfy the need. Figure 3-1 shows the steps or phases of a general engineering 
design process. 
Figure 3- 1-
Engineering design process [21] 

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A brief summary of the design procedure of the customized planter is mentioned below: 
The need of a customized planter for the mobile robot was brought up by the main project- 
Robotic assisted farming. A thorough study about design of planters and their components and 
tool-soil interaction is performed. More data and information was collected by performing 
experiments on soil-disc interaction in the soil bin. Conceptual design was performed and 
between a few ideas, one was selected for analysis and detailing. Design was reviewed and 
revised after different analyses, and the new design was analyzed again to satisfy all the design 
criteria. Finalized design was sent to machine shop in order to fabricate the prototype. Fabricated 
parts were assembled and attached to the mobile robot to perform autonomous planting. 
Satisfactory results were obtained in tests and evaluation phase, which shows the success of the 
design process.