ZHENGHUA ZHANG ¹ Weilong He ¹ Fan Wu ¹ Lina M. Quesada-Ocampo ² Lirong Xiang ^1*

• ¹ Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, United States
• ² Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, United States

High agility, maneuverability, and payload capacity, combined with a small footprint, make legged robots well-suited for precision agriculture applications. In this study, we introduce a novel bionic hexapod robot designed for agricultural applications to address the limitations of traditional wheeled and aerial robots. Our design features a hexapod robot with high agility and dexterity. A significant innovation of this robot is its terrain-adaptive gait and adjustable clearance, which ensure body stability as the robot travels over different terrains and crosses obstacles of varying heights. These features are critical to the robot's ability to adapt to complex and dynamic environmental conditions. The robot is equipped with a high-precision Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) for realtime monitoring of its attitude during movement. This configuration gives the robot the ability to dynamically adjust its attitude to maintain balance. In addition, to enhance obstacle detection and self-navigation capabilities, we have designed an advanced version of the robot equipped with an optional advanced sensing system. This advanced version includes LiDAR, stereo cameras, and distance sensors. This advanced sensing capability allows the robot to dynamically adjust the clearance between its base plate and the ground and precisely control the landing point and trajectory of each leg, thus effectively minimizing collisions with surrounding crops. We have tested the standard robot under different ground conditions, including hard concrete floors, rugged grass, climbing slopes, and crossing obstacles. The adaptability of the bionic hexapod robot to complex field environments, combined with its flexible and lightweight design, has demonstrated significant potential in improving agricultural practices by increasing efficiency, lowering labor costs, and enhancing sustainability. In future work, we will further develop the robot's energy efficiency, durability in various environmental conditions, and compatibility with different crops and farming methods.