The global population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050. Feeding this growing population more sustainably is a huge challenge facing agriculture. Developing agricultural robotics is seen as one potential solution to tackling this challenge. Advances in agri-food robotics reviews the utilisation of agricultural robots to deal with increasing labour shortages in agriculture whilst bringing greater precision and efficiency into farming operations. The book addresses recent advances in agricultural robotic technologies and how these can be optimised to monitor and manage crop production more effectively, from phenotyping for improved varieties to harvesting the finished product. In its comprehensive exploration of the technologies available, the book provides farmers with the means necessary to invest – and trust – in agricultural robotics to improve the productivity and profitability of their farm.

Table of Contents:
Part 1 Technologies: sensing and perception 1.Advances in visual perception for agricultural robotics: Gert Kootstra, Wageningen University, The Netherlands; 2.Advances in world modeling for agri-food robotics: Jordy Senden, Elena Torta and René van de Molengraft, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands; and Herman Bruyninckx, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and Flanders Make, Belgium; 3.Advances in local perception for orchard robotics: Jose Blasco, Centro de Agroingeniería – Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA), Spain; and Francisco Rovira-Más, Agricultural Robotics Laboratory (ARL) – Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain; 4.Advances in machine learning for agricultural robots: Polina Kurtser, Örebro University and Umeå University, Sweden; Stephanie Lowry, Örebro University, Sweden; and Ola Ringdahl, Umeå University, Sweden; Part 2 Technologies: operational aspects 5.Autonomous navigation and path planning for agricultural robots: John F. Reid, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA; 6.Advances in human-robot collaboration in agricultural robotics: George Adamides, Agricultural Research Institute, Cyprus; and Yael Edan, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel; 7.Implementing a digital twin for flexible operation of agricultural robotics: Frits K. van Evert, Trim Bresilla, Ard Nieuwenhuizen, Bram Veldhuisen and Jochen Hemming, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands; Giannis Avgoustakis, Spyros Fountas, Michael Koutsiaras and Nikos Mylonas, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece; Suzanne Baron, Agricultural Robotics and Automatization, France; Thanos Dritsopoulos and Markos Legas, Pegasus, Greece; Han Hilbrands and Jeroen Wolters, Smart Agri Technology BV, The Netherlands; Klaas Jan Hommes, Abemec BV, The Netherlands; Panagiotis Karagiannis, Sotiris Makris and George Michalos, University of Patras, Greece; Dimitrios Paraforos and Galibjon Sharipov, University of Hohenheim, Germany; Søren Marcus Pedersen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Bertrand Pinel, Terrena Societe Cooperative Agricole, France; Mladen Radisic, Foodscale Hub, Serbia; Juan F. Rascón and Carlos Rizzo, Eurecat, Centre Tecnològic de Catalunya, Spain; Raul Sanchez, Serrater, Spain; Alea Scovill, AgroIntelli, Denmark; Oriol Serra, Giropoma, Spain; and Josep Vidal, Teyme, Spain; 8.Advances in connectivity and distributed intelligence in agricultural robotics: Liisa Pesonen, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Finland; Daniel Calvo Alonso, Atos, Spain; Juha Backman and Jere Kaivosoja, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Finland; Jarmi Recio Martinez, Atos, Spain; and Juha-Pekka Soininen, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finland; 9.Improving fault detection and isolation in agricultural robotics: Nicolas Tricot, Mahmoud Almasri and Roland Lenain, Université Clermont Auvergne, France; Part 3 Technologies: actuation 10.Advances in mobility platforms for agricultural robots: Renato Vidoni and Giovanni Carabin, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy; Giuseppe Quaglia and Andrea Botta, Politecnico di Torino, Italy; and Giulio Reina and Rocco Galati, Politecnico di Bari, Italy; 11.Advances in grasping techniques in agricultural robots: George Kantor and Francisco Yandun, Carnegie Mellon University, USA; 12.Advances in soft grasping in agriculture: Ali Leylavi Shoushtari, Wageningen University & Research and Wageningen Robotics, The Netherlands; 13.Advances in agricultural unmanned aerial vehicles: focus on sensing applications: Tarin Paz-Kagan, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel; Part 4 Social, ethical and economic aspects 14.Regulatory frameworks and standards for agricultural robotics in the European Union: Andrea Bertolini and Rocco Limongelli, Scuola Superiore di Studi Universitari e di Perfezionamento Sant'Anna - Istituto Dirpolis, Italy; 15.Economics of agricultural robotics: James Lowenberg-Deboer, Harper Adams University, UK; 16.Social and ethical considerations for agricultural robotics: Kirsten Ayris, University of Reading, UK; and David Christian Rose, Cranfield University, UK; Part 5 Applications 17.Advances in the use of robotics in crop phenotyping: M. Wattad, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israel; V. Alchanatis, Volcani Institute – Agricultural Research Organization, Israel; Y. Edan, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel; S. Shriki and T. Sandovsky, Volcani Institute – Agricultural Research Organization and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel; and S. Filin, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israel; 18.Advances in the use of robots in field crop cultivation: Avital Bechar, Agricultural Research Organization, Israel; and Dionysis Bochtis, Institute for Bio-Economy and Agri-Technology (iBO), Greece; 19.Advances in the use of robotics in orchard operations: Manoj Karkee and Qin Zhang, Washington State University, USA; Uddhav Bhattarai, University of California Davis, USA; and Xin Zhang, Mississippi State University, USA; 20.Advances in the use of robotics in greenhouse cultivation: Jochen Hemming and Jos Balendonck, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands; 21.Advances in the use of robotics in livestock production: Kees Lokhorst, Wageningen Livestock Research, The Netherlands; and Tomas Norton, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium