Coordinated control of agricultural robots and their tools
Ph.D. project · Mohamed Ounally · Started November 2026
An agricultural robot must place its tool accurately relative to the crop or soil. Controlling the path of the mobile platform alone does not ensure that the tool follows the desired motion. The tool position, actuator limits and the motion of the platform have to be considered together.
This doctoral project studies constrained control for overactuated agricultural robots. The objective is to coordinate the carrier and implement around the point of agronomic action, making use of the available degrees of freedom while limiting resource use and risks to crops. Mechanical weeding and localized interventions are the first applications considered.
The work is carried out by Mohamed Ounally at INRAE and Université Clermont Auvergne, under the supervision of Johann Laconte, Roland Lenain, Riccardo Polvara and Florian Rançon. It is supported by the PEPR Agroécologie et Numérique programme.
Related laboratory work includes offset-point tracking and predictive control for agricultural implements.