  Modern agriculture is constantly evolving to increase production despite
unfavorable environmental conditions. A promising approach is 'greenhouse
cultivation' providing a microclimate to the cultivated plants to overcome
unfavorable climate. However, massive-sized greenhouses develop non-uniform
micro-climate throughout the complex requiring high degree of human
supervision. We propose deploying an Agri-Bot to create and maintain positive
ecological conditions in the greenhouse, reducing labor costs and increasing
production. The prototype will contain two primary systems, the navigation
system and the data analytics system. The navigation system will be controlled
by an Arduino, and data analytics will be handled using an ESP8266 microchip.
Numerous sensors for measuring the greenhouse parameters will be mounted on the
robot. It will follow a predefined path, while taking readings at checkpoints.
The microchip will collect and process data from sensors, transmit to the
cloud, and give commands to the actuators. The soil and climate parameters like
temperature, humidity, light intensity, soil moisture, pH will be measured
periodically. When the parameters are not within a specified range, the
Agri-Bot will take corrective actions like switching on blowers/heaters,
starting irrigation etc. If external intervention is required, eg., fertilizer,
it will indicate accordingly. Deploying such an Agri-Bot for monitoring and
controlling microclimate in large-scale greenhouses can mitigate labor costs
while increasing productivity. In spite of an initial cost, it can provide a
high return on investment by providing flexibility, low power consumption and
easy management to help greenhouse be water efficient, provide evenly dispersed
and controlled sunlight intensity, temperature and humidity.

Robotics;Networking and Internet Architecture