Date of Award

6-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2022.

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

Kourosh Pahlavan

Second Advisor

Manoj Sharma

Third Advisor

Christopher Kitts

Abstract

Robotics and automation are the multi-billion dollar future of farming, but many labor-intensive tasks including bug and moisture control are still performed by hand. The new RoboVac toolkit will streamline and economize these operations as one neat compact system. It is a fully electric bug vacuum solution that is intended for pest management on various crops. For this project, it was tested on chives. It features a retrofitted leaf blower repurposed into a vacuum, mounted onto a portable modular aluminum frame with efficient electronics that can be easily integrated into an autonomous vehicle platform. The intended future operation platform will be the RSL’s AgRover. This system outperformed existing gas-powered solutions by an 8% higher bug capture rate.

Download
COinS