Agrisense: Automated Irrigation and Smart Seeding With Crop Monitoring

Abstract

This paper presents Agrisense , a smart farming robot designed to perform automated seeding, irrigation, and remote crop monitoring. The system integrates an Arduino Uno microcontroller with a soil moisture sensor, relay module, servo motors, water pump, buzzer, ESP32-CAM, and Bluetooth module. A mobile device connects via Bluetooth to manually drive the vehicle. A mechanical switch triggers the seeding mechanism, and soil conditions are checked every 2 seconds for automated irrigation. When the soil is dry, the pump activates automatically. The ESP32-CAM allows live crop image capture via IP access. Powered by two 9V batteries or an adaptor, this low-cost system is intended to simplify field work for farmers while promoting water conservation and labor efficiency.

Introduction

Agriculture faces growing challenges such as labor shortages, inefficient water use, and difficulty in real-time crop monitoring due to increasing global food demands and climate change. Traditional farming methods are insufficient, so modern solutions focus on automation and IoT technologies, especially precision agriculture.

The text presents Agrisense, a smart robotic farming assistant built on an Arduino Uno microcontroller. Agrisense automates soil moisture monitoring, irrigation, seed dispensing, and remote crop monitoring using an ESP32-CAM camera. It navigates the field via motor drivers and infrared sensors, controlled remotely through Bluetooth on a smartphone.

Key features include:

• Soil Moisture Monitoring and Automated Irrigation: Soil moisture sensors check the field every 2 seconds and activate a water pump through a relay when moisture is low.

• Remote Crop Monitoring: The ESP32-CAM streams live images over Wi-Fi for real-time crop health inspection.

• Seeding Mechanism: Servo motors dispense seeds at regular intervals while the robot moves, ensuring uniform sowing.

• Manual Remote Control: Bluetooth connectivity allows farmers to manually control movement, seeding, irrigation, and image capture.

The system runs on dual power modes (batteries or adapter) and integrates sensors, actuators, and wireless communication to reduce labor, conserve water, and improve farming efficiency. It also supports data logging and cloud visualization for better farm management.

The literature review compares similar IoT and robotic agriculture systems, highlighting Agrisense’s comprehensive automation of seeding, irrigation, and monitoring in one platform. The hardware and software were successfully tested under real conditions, confirming effective irrigation triggering, smooth robot navigation, and clear remote imaging.

Conclusion

The Agrisense robotic farming system is a smart, low-cost, and practical solution designed to automate essential agricultural operations such as seeding, soil moisture monitoring, irrigation, and crop image capturing. By integrating widely available components like the Arduino Uno, soil moisture sensor, relay, servo motors, water pump, motor driver, Bluetooth module, and ESP32-CAM, the system demonstrates how small-scale farmers can adopt automation without the need for expensive commercial solutions. The robot simplifies fieldwork through a Bluetooth-based manual control system that allows it to be driven using a mobile phone. A mechanical switch triggers the seeding mechanism, while the soil moisture sensor takes readings every two seconds to monitor dryness. When the soil moisture level drops below a preset threshold, the relay module activates the water pump automatically, ensuring timely and efficient irrigation. The integrated ESP32-CAM provides real-time visuals of the field by streaming crop images over Wi-Fi using a dedicated IP address, enabling farmers to monitor plant conditions remotely. The system not only reduces manual labor but also promotes water conservation by delivering irrigation only when necessary. Its flexible power setup—via dual 9V batteries or an external adaptor—makes it suitable for both lab testing and real field deployment. Moreover, its modular design allows individual features (such as seeding, irrigation, and monitoring) to be used or upgraded independently, which adds to the system’s adaptability and scalability. Overall, Agrisense brings together mobility, automation, sensing, and remote monitoring into a compact farming robot that supports precision agriculture in a meaningful way. It is especially valuable for small and medium-scale farms, where automation is still limited due to high costs and technical barriers. This project shows how open-source hardware and simple programming can be used to modernize farming practices. In future work, the system can be enhanced by integrating GPS for autonomous navigation, solar power for energy independence, and machine learning algorithms to analyze crop health based on captured images. A dedicated mobile app for controlling the robot and visualizing data could further improve usability and decision-making for farmers. Thus, Agrisense lays a strong foundation for developing more intelligent, sustainable, and connected agricultural systems.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Prof. S. S. Bharadwaj, Shrinivas Wange, C. Salena Jairaj, D. Sonam Jawale. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.