Microcontroller based roller contact type herbicide applicator for weed control under row crops

• Manually operated three row roller contact type variable rate herbicide applicator was developed.
• Microcontroller based circuit has been designed to apply the desirable amount of herbicide.
• Graphical user interface (GUI) has been developed to interact with electronic devices.
• This technology is simple in construction and ease of operation.
• By using this technology the amount of excess herbicide consumption can be avoided up to 50%.

A microcontroller based manually operated three row roller contact type herbicide applicator was designed and developed for control of the weed population in field crops. A control system was developed to apply the quantity of the herbicide based on quantified weed information. The unit consists of a camera for capturing the images of weeds, MATLAB software for image acquisition and processing in a laptop, a serial port communication for communicating between laptop and controller, a microcontroller for controlling the application of herbicide through a relay, and a dc solenoid valve for variable rate application of herbicide on the applicating roller. The captured image was analyzed by the image processing toolbox in the MATLAB software, to extract weed information in the image, which is then transferred to a microcontroller using serial port interface. The microcontroller activates the solenoid valve using a relay according to algorithm for decision of the herbicide amount. Field test results of the machine indicate an average of 50% saving in the amount of herbicide, with weeding efficiency of 90%.