ROBOTICS – THE PATH TO IMPLEMENTING INDUSTRY 4.0 IN AGRICULTURE

Abstract

At the current stage of development in the agricultural sector, the labor shortage is a particularly pressing issue for Ukrainian producers, significantly hindering the adoption of innovative technologies. This situation poses a direct threat to the country’s food security. One of the most promising approaches to solving this problem is the development and deployment of robots capable of replacing human labor and performing agricultural operations autonomously. As a review of research and existing robot designs has shown, they are capable of performing a variety of technological operations, from field monitoring to sowing and harvesting, thereby reducing dependence on manual labor. At the same time, the productivity of the work performed and the quality of the finished product increase significantly, while the negative impact on the environment decreases. This article provides an overview of robots that are being actively introduced into agricultural production. The advantages and challenges of robot implementation are outlined. It has been established that the creation of swarm robotic systems is a promising direction for the development of robotics in agriculture.