Robo Tropical: An Autonomous Robot System for Reforestation in Water Logged Sites

Abstract

Reforestation efforts, in particular those led by NGOs and nonprofits, often struggle in maintaining efficient and reliable workforces, relying heavily upon volunteers and part time contributors. This is to the detriment of meeting project timelines in the face of urgency as the climate crisis grows stronger despite community efforts to improve environmental resilience through reforestation. This project has developed the conceptualization of an autonomous robot with an autonomous digging system built to compare how an alternative design works compared to the conventional auger design as the water content percentage increases. Due to previous field observations, the digging apparatus was hypothesized to perform better (dig deeper holes and retain more soil) as the water content increased. However, the auger outperformed the digging apparatus design by being able to dig an average of 7.33 inches at 45% water content while the digging apparatus dug an average of 5.67 inches. Moreover, the digging apparatus showed a decrease in soil retention as the water content increased. Despite the results, the impact wrench & linear actuator system performed well due to the auger being able to dig down easily at a rate comparable to much larger reforestation augers. Thus, there is a potential in improving the system’s digging apparatus design to match the efficiency of the autonomous auger - linear actuator system and create a robot that’s lightweight, economical, and tailored to tropical reforestation conditions.