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This paper presents the study reports on evaluating a new transplanting operation by taking into accounts the interactions between soil, plant, and machine in line with the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) practices. The objective was to modify planting claw (kuku-kambing) of a paddy transplanter in compliance with SRI guidelines to determine the best planting spacing (S), seed rate (G) and planting pattern that results in a maximum number of seedling, tillers per hill, and yield. Two separate experiments were carried out in two different paddy fields, one to determine the best planting spacing (S=4 levels: s1=0.16 m×0.3 m, s2= 0.18 m×0.3 m, s3=0.21 m×0.3 m, and s4=0.24 m×0.3 m) for a specific planting pattern (row mat or scattered planting pattern), and the other to determine the best combination of spacing with seed rate treatments (G=2 levels: g1=75 g/tray, and g2= 240 g/tray). Main SRI management practices such as soil characteristics of the sites, planting depth, missing hill, hill population, the number of seedling per hill, and yield components were evaluated. Results of two-way analysis of variance with three replications showed that spacing, planting pattern and seed rate affected the number of one-seedling in all experiment. It was also observed that the increase in spacing resulted in more tillers and more panicle per plant, however hill population and sterility ratio increased with the decrease in spacing. While the maximum number of panicles were resulted from scattered planting at s4=0.24 m×0.3 m spacing with the seed rate of g1=75 g/tray, the maximum number of one seedling were observed at s4=0.16 m×0.3 m. The highest and lowest yields were obtained from 75 g seeds per tray scattered and 70 g seeds per tray scattered treatment respectively. For all treatments, the result clearly indicates an increase in yield with an increase in spacing.

Research efforts for development of agricultural robots that can effectively perform tedious field tasks have grown significantly in the past decade. Agricultural robots are complex systems that require interdisciplinary collaborations between different research groups for effective task delivery in unstructured crops and plants environments. With the exception of milking robots, the extensive research works that have been carried out in the past two decades for adaptation of robotics in agriculture have not yielded a commercial product to date. To accelerate this pace, simulation approach and evaluation methods in virtual environments can provide an affordable and reliable framework for experimenting with different sensing and acting mechanisms in order to verify the performance functionality of the robot in dynamic scenarios. This paper reviews several professional simulators and custom-built virtual environments that have been used for agricultural robotic applications. The key features and performance efficiency of three selected simulators were also compared. A simulation case study was demonstrated to highlight some of the powerful functionalities of the Virtual Robot Experimentation Platform. Details of the objects and scenes were presented as the proof-of-concept for using a completely simulated robotic platform and sensing systems in a virtual citrus orchard. It was shown that the simulated workspace can provide a configurable and modular prototype robotic system that is capable of adapting to several field conditions and tasks through easy testing and debugging of control algorithms with zero damage risk to the real robot and to the actual equipment. This review suggests that an open-source software platform for agricultural robotics will significantly accelerate effective collaborations between different research groups for sharing existing workspaces, algorithms, and reusing the materials.

Digital farming is the practice of modern technologies such as sensors, robotics, and data analysis for shifting from tedious operations to continuously automated processes. This paper reviews some of the latest achievements in agricultural robotics, specifically those that are used for autonomous weed control, field scouting, and harvesting. Object identification,task planning algorithms, digitalization and optimization of sensors are highlighted as some of the facing challenges in the context of digital farming. The concepts of multi-robots, human-robot collaboration, and environment reconstruction from aerial images and ground-based sensors for the creation of virtual farms were highlighted as some of the gateways of digital farming. It was shown that one of the trends and research focuses in agricultural field robotics is towards building a swarm of small scale robots and drones that collaborate together to optimize farming inputs and reveal denied or concealed information. For the case of robotic harvesting, an autonomous framework with several simple axis manipulators can be faster and more efficient than the currently adapted professional expensive manipulators. While robots are becoming the inseparable parts of the modern farms, our conclusion is that it is not realistic to expect an entirely automated farming system in the future.

A lot of prime farmlands are derelict due to mining activities in China. The derelict mined-land usually locates in conservation areas of prime farmland, which brings about a series of eco-environmental and socio-economic problems. In this paper, the concept and implication of restoration, reclamation and ecological reconstruction were reviewed. The key objectives of ecological reconstruction were to enhance natural productivity of derelict mined-land, to establish complex ecolo-economic system, and to mitigate man-land contradiction. Accordingly, some countermeasures to realize ecological reconstruction were put forward. Based on analyzing the existing problems of reclamation technologies in China, technology development and demonstration of derelict mined-land were studied. In order to further protect existing prime farmland and reconstruct derelict prime farmland in mined areas, it is pointed out that the researches on systematically monitoring, preventing and alarming ground sinkage due to mining activities, establishing ensuring system for policy of ecological reconstruction of derelict mined-land, and probing the feasible model of ecological reconstruction promoted by land consolidation and rehabilitation projects should be strengthened.