Automatic Adjustable Spraying Device for Site-Specific Agricultural Application

This paper presents a device for accurate pesticide spraying capable of dealing with amorphous shapes and variable-sized targets. The device includes a single spray nozzle with an automatically adjustable spraying angle, color camera, and distance sensors, all mounted on a pan tilt unit. The site-specific spraying device aims to spray specific targets while reducing the use of pesticides. The spraying diameter is set as the minimum closing circle diameter according to the shape and size of the target. Two preliminary experiments were conducted in order to evaluate the spray nozzle flow rate in relation to the spray diameter and the spray diameter in relation to the nozzle's angular position. A main outdoor experiment was conducted to evaluate the complete spraying device using artificial targets of varying sizes. The results indicated that the spraying device is capable of reducing the amount of pesticides applied. An economic analysis estimates that up to 45% of pesticide reduction is possible when using the suggested spraying method. Actual savings depend on the spraying durations, target size, and distribution.