Autonomous Vehicle for Saffron Harvesting

The objective of this paper is the design and development of an autonomous vehicle which would be able to harvest saffron flowers unsupervised. This vehicle will be able to collect the flowers of the saffron unharmed. The time for the harvest isn't more than the time needed by a human to accomplish the same task. Moreover, this procedure must be more cost effective compared to the same task accomplished by a human. We also take under consideration that the plant appears to be very sensitive to the fluctuation of pH and can be chemically destroyed in the presence of oxidizing factors and in an ionized environment. it is also very sensitive to the atmosphere's humidity (due to its trichoid stamen) however it seems to be resistant to heat. Generally, the vehicle will be able to accomplish all the operations without the need of human supervision. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of The Hellenic Association for Information and Communication Technologies in Agriculture Food and Environment (HAICTA)