Introduction

 Robotics and AI have already become a cornerstone in many global industries (e.g. transportation, manufacturing and aerial), but most of the available machines and techniques were difficult to implement in the less structured agriculture environment. On the other hand, the rising plant and livestock production demands of the rapidly growing population face the challenges such as labor shortage, climate changes and high health risks in performing repetitive agricultural activities. Many researchers have proposed new approaches and applications of robots in agriculture. At the farm level, Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) employed in crop and animal agriculture could increase input efficiency and agricultural output with reduced adverse impact on the environment.

 More recently, Artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have led farming into a new era of robotics in agriculture. The advent of agricultural robotics research has brought substantial revolutions to improve management efficiency, reduce production costs (e.g. labor force, and energy), and enhance production yields (e.g. grain, rice, meat, milk). Harvesting robots, picking robots, shearing robots, slaughter robots, etc. significantly enhance the level of agricultural mechanization and automation, which have the potential to tackle the rising food demands of the rapidly growing population. There are further opportunities to apply more advanced sensor technologies, combined with more autonomous systems, to perform tasks on the farm. This workshop will bring more opportunities for synergies in robotic research, facilitating the exchange of innovative ideas across different disciplines such as agricultural engineering and computer science.

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