Design and Field Experiment of an ROS-Based Navigation System for a Wheeled Orchard Mower

To improve autonomous path execution of a wheeled mower in standardized orchards, an ROS-based navigation control system integrating dual-antenna RTK-GNSS positioning and heading, an industrial computer, CAN-based drive control, and wireless manual takeover was developed. Parameterized reference paths consisting of straight sections and U-shaped turns were generated for inter-row operation, and an adaptive Pure Pursuit controller was implemented within the ROS framework. Three repeated field trials were conducted on a U-shaped path at a nominal speed of 0.8 m/s, with conventional Pure Pursuit using a fixed 2.0 m look-ahead distance as a reference. The mower completed the planned path under both controller settings. For the adaptive controller, the mean absolute lateral errors in the curved, straight, and overall sections were 0.124, 0.035, and 0.047 m, respectively. The corresponding overall error for PP-2m was 0.115 m. These results support the feasibility of the developed system for RTK-GNSS-guided closed-loop path tracking under the tested standardized-orchard conditions.