Publications | Excelsior Applied Systems

An autonomous robot-assisted system for high-resolution in-situ soil sampling in agricultural fields

J. H. Bae, J. Lancia, R. Gonzalez, M. Madhi, M. Tozzi, B. Muthukumaran, K. Wat, G. Park, and L. Sun

ASME 2026 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Vancouver, November 2026. Paper IMECE2026-192950. Accepted, in press.

To appear in the conference proceedings.

Cite

Bae, J. H., Lancia, J., Gonzalez, R., Madhi, M., Tozzi, M., Muthukumaran, B., Wat, K., Park, G., & Sun, L. (in press). An autonomous robot-assisted system for high-resolution in-situ soil sampling in agricultural fields (Paper No. IMECE2026-192950). In Proceedings of the ASME 2026 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, November 8 to 12, 2026. American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Introduction to OSIRIS, the Onboard Soil In-situ Robot-assisted Intelligent System

J. H. Bae, J. Lancia, S. Mathison, R. M. Gonzalez, and G. Park

2026 ASABE Annual International Meeting, Indianapolis, July 2026. ASABE Paper No. 2600735. Meeting presentation, published by ASABE.

Introduces the platform and its two subsystems, and reports laboratory results for the core handling prototype and a simulation study of baseline coring control.

DOI

Abstract

High-resolution soil sampling is essential for precision agriculture because soil properties vary spatially and directly affect fertilizer management, irrigation planning, crop productivity, and soil health. However, conventional soil sampling is labor-intensive and can introduce variability in sampling depth, location accuracy, sample volume, labeling, and handling. This paper introduces OSIRIS, the Onboard Soil In-situ Robot-assisted Intelligent System, as an integrated robotic platform for autonomous soil sampling in agricultural fields. OSIRIS is designed to automate rover-assisted positioning, soil coring, core exchange, onboard storage, sample indexing, and adaptive coring control. Two enabling subsystems are presented: the Automated Core Function System (ACFS) for onboard core storage and transfer, and the Automated Soil-coring and Monitoring System (ASMS) for controlled soil acquisition under variable soil conditions. The ACFS proof-of-concept prototype uses a ten-core carousel, gripper-based manipulator, vertical actuator, rotating transfer base, 24 V electrical architecture, and PLC-based sequencing. Laboratory testing showed an average core-handling cycle time of 2 min 8.667 s and positional errors below the 0.5 mm requirement. ASMS simulation showed that a baseline PID torque-droop controller stalled in 74% of randomized soil-profile trials, motivating adaptive coring control. These results establish the initial mechanical and control foundation for scalable autonomous soil sampling.

Cite

Bae, J. H., Lancia, J., Mathison, S., Gonzalez, R. M., & Park, G. (2026). Introduction to OSIRIS - Onboard Soil In-situ Robot-assisted Intelligent System. ASABE Paper No. 2600735. 2026 ASABE Annual International Meeting, Indianapolis, Indiana, July 12 to 15, 2026. American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan. https://doi.org/10.13031/aim.202600735