Learning Seed Placements and Automation Policies for Polyculture Farming with Companion Plants
Yahav Avigal Anna Deza William Wong Sebastian Oehme Mark Presten Mark Theis Jackson Chui Paul Shao Huang Huang Atsunobu Kotani Satvik Sharma Rishi Parikh Michael Luo Sandeep Mukherjee Stefano Carpin Joshua H. Viers Stavros Vougioukas Ken Goldberg Yahav Avigal Anna Deza William Wong Sebastian Oehme Mark Presten Mark Theis Jackson Chui Paul Shao Huang Huang Atsunobu Kotani Satvik Sharma Rishi Parikh Michael Luo Sandeep Mukherjee Stefano Carpin Joshua H. Viers Stavros Vougioukas Ken Goldberg
Polyculture farming is a sustainable farming technique based on synergistic interactions between differing plant types that make them more resistant to diseases and pests and better able to retain water. Reduced uniformity can reduce use of pesticides, fertilizer, and water, but is more labor intensive and more challenging to automate. We describe a scaled physical testbed (1.5m×3.0m) that uses a ...