Augmented Reality Agricultural Scouting System for Plant-Level Monitoring

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing agricultural monitoring technologies, such as overhead imagery and robots, lack precise data at the individual row or plant level, making it difficult for farmers to quickly identify and address variations in agricultural fields, such as pests or weeds, while physically present in the field.

Innovation Solution

A system that generates a stream of agricultural annotations by processing vision data from wearable computing devices using inference machine learning models, allowing for real-time augmentation of the farmer's vision with relevant information about areas of interest in the field.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Area of stationary object

If overhead imagery or robots are used for monitoring agricultural fields, then monitoring coverage is improved, but measurement precision at individual row or plant level deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemonitoring coverageVSAvoidprecision at individual row or plant level

Core Design Contradiction:

Area of stationary objectVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments the monitoring task into two levels: overhead imagery/robots provide broad field coverage while wearable devices capture detailed plant-level data. This segmentation allows the system to achieve both wide coverage and high precision simultaneously by assigning different monitoring responsibilities to different devices.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The wearable computing device acts as a nested component within the broader monitoring system. It captures detailed data at the plant level that complements the overhead imagery, creating a nested structure where fine-grained data is embedded within the context of broader field monitoring.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

2Speed

If inference ML models are processed on the second computing device (wearable), then response time is improved, but device complexity and computational resource requirements worsen

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveresponse timeVSAvoidcomputational resource requirements

Core Design Contradiction:

SpeedVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system applies partial action by running simplified inference models on the wearable device for immediate responses, while more complex analysis can be performed later on more powerful systems. This allows the wearable to provide timely detections without requiring full computational capability for all processing tasks.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

3Loss of time

If the wearable computing device processes vision data locally, then loss of time in data transmission is reduced, but loss of energy from battery consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata transmission timeVSAvoidbattery consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of timeVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs partial processing on the wearable device - running lightweight inference models that require minimal computational power and battery consumption. This allows the system to achieve real-time detection capabilities while minimizing energy usage, avoiding the need for full-scale processing that would rapidly deplete the battery.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

4Productivity

If agricultural annotations are provided in real-time through AR, then productivity in identifying variations is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvespeed of identifying variationsVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The AR display acts as an intermediary that presents processed information in an intuitive visual format. Instead of requiring the farmer to interpret raw data or complex analysis results, the system translates findings into easily understandable visual annotations overlaid on the field view, simplifying the interaction while maintaining high productivity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS12280870B2Method(s) and system(s) for enabling augmented reality scouting of an agricultural field

Publication Date: 2025.04.22 DEERE & CO

AI summary

Implementations are directed to generating a stream of agricultural annotations with respect to area(s) of interest of an agricultural field, and providing the stream of agricultural annotations for presentation to the user in an augmented reality manner with respect to the area(s) of interest. In some implementations, a stream of vision data may be received at a first computing device of the user and from a second computing device of the user. Further, the first computing device may process the stream of vision data to generate the stream of agricultural annotations. Moreover, the first computing device may transmit the stream of agricultural annotations to the second computing device to cause the stream of agricultural annotations to be provided for presentation to the user. In other implementations, the first computing device may be omitted, and the second computing device may be utilized to generate the stream of agricultural annotations.