SBIR-STTR Award

Numerous challenges face the Florida and U.S. citrus industries including global market pressure urban and environmental pressures labor issues and emerging diseases and pests thus underscoring the need for new production approaches. Over the last two decades over 200000acres of Florida citrus production has been lost due to the citrus canker eradication program and citrus greening (HLB). HLB is now considered endemic in Florida and hundreds of thousands of acres are in steep decline with minimal hope of finding remediation solutions. Long term hope rests on finding HLB resistant varieties and developing advanced management strategies that can control the psyllid population repel them from groves and manage trees in an optimal economic framework. One approach being considered is Advanced Citrus Production Systems (ACPS) that use high density semi-dwarfed trees and open hydroponics with optimized nutrient and water availability which accelerates plant growth. When combined with HLB tolerant rootstocks the concept seeks to increase yield production per acre while simultaneously shortening the time to return on investment which means that grove life can be shortened by disease pressure and still remain economically viable. Another emerging commercially admitted production approach is Citrus Under Protective Screen (CUPS); CUPS uses high-density semi-dwarfed trees or potted trees to limit tree size due to canopy height limitations. Citrus under enclosed structures can exclude the Asian citrus psyllid and eliminate the negative effects of citrus greening to high value varieties like the grapefruit. However both of these new grove architectures will require new compatible equipment systems to manage production and harvesting but they may create alternate crop disease and pest pressures that require precision spray control to manage. GeoSpider Inc has been developing both mass and selective harvesting technologies for high density ACPS. However we recognize that there is a significant overlap between ACPS and CUPS not only in harvesting but also in sprayer related technologies. The citrus industry is facing a challenge with respect to a large number of disease and pests that require the use of expensive chemicals some of which require monthly application. With growing environmental pressures and concerns over agricultural sustainability it will be crucial to develop more efficient autonomous technologies that can scout and map disease and pest pressures using artificial intelligence which can build prescription maps along with real-time canopy mapping to optimize sprayer efficacy and minimize overspray and drift which will result in environmental and economic benefits for producers. In this Phase I project we will develop a scaled concept prototype to demonstrate autonomous navigation canopy mapping under screen localization and precision spraying with the following specific objectives: 1) We will adapt an earlier greenhouse robot sprayer rig for demonstration of autonomous navigation under canopy and spraying in CUPS while 2) a manned JD Gator and a pull behind sprayer will be equipped with the sensory systems for scouting navigation canopy mapping and precision spraying using technologies developed during prior research. In addition 3) advanced concept design and modeling will be done for the full-scale Phase II robot scout and sensory suite. 4) Field tests will be conducted using the scaled Phase I prototype at the Dundee CUPS facilities. In the planned Phase II project we will integrate the technology components from prior research and this Phase I project to build a commercial Ph