Agricultural Robotics Foundations: Sensing, Navigation, and Field Work

Robots are quietly becoming part of modern agriculture, from autonomous tractors guided by satellite signals to small scouting robots that walk row by row. Understanding what they actually do, what they sense, and how they decide is the first step toward working in this growing area. This course gives you that structured introduction without assuming any robotics background. You will learn how a field robot perceives its surroundings, how it knows where it is, and how it moves through complex outdoor environments where weather, lighting, and crop variability constantly change. The course stays grounded in widely used concepts and points to the modern advances reshaping the field. What you'll learn: - Identify the major categories of agricultural robots including autonomous tractors, harvesters, weeders, and scouts - Understand how perception works in the field, including cameras, LiDAR, and multispectral sensors - Recognize the role of satellite navigation, real-time kinematic positioning, and visual odometry - Explore decision systems including row following, obstacle avoidance, and task-level planning - Learn how modern computer vision and edge inference enable real-time recognition of crops and weeds - Understand the safety, data, and operational considerations that distinguish farm robots from industrial ones The course begins with the unique demands of the agricultural environment, moves through perception, navigation, and decision making, and finishes with the operational realities of running robots across seasons. Written exercises help you map each concept onto a real example from grain, vineyard, or specialty crop operations. This course is designed for absolute beginners with no robotics background, including agricultural students, software developers exploring physical systems, and farmers curious about new tools. No prerequisites are needed. The course explains every concept as it appears and stays focused on understanding rather than building.