The investigation of mobile robot waypoint navigation utilising the Global Positioning System and aerial imagery

Problems faced by UK farmers formed the raison d'etre for this research. Agriculture plays an important role in the UK economy. However, due to difficulties securing the necessary workforce, problems associated with hiring migrant labourers, and competition from cheap imported produce, the UK's Gross Value Added (GVA) plummeted from £9.8 to £5.2 billion in the decade leading up to 2005. As a result, the automation of certain farming (and horticultural) jobs is becoming a desirable alternative to man-power, in an aim to re-establish the supply and demand for local and exported produce. The need for low-cost, robust and manoeuvrable robots to attract farmers' interest in agricultural/horticultural automation was met by the introduction of Ransomes Jacobsen's Spider®, a grass cutting mower that could be converted into an autonomous robot. With the appropriate transformation in hardware and computer software, it has provided the opportunity for such research. [Continues.]