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.
Recommended Citation
Forghany, Ershad; Galang, Joe; Urdanivia, Nico; and Zagni, Alessandro, "RoboVac: A Combined Vacuum Blower Toolkit For Agricultural Robots" (2022). Mechanical Engineering Senior Theses. 121.
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/mech_senior/121