Development of Multi-Terrain Surveillance Robot: A Technical Literature Review

Surveillance and inspection of hazardous, remote and unstructured areas require robots that can move reliably over different terrains while sensing and transmitting information in real time. This article reviews published work on multi-terrain and surveillance robots, covering locomotion mechanisms such as rocker-bogie, six wheeled, hybrid air-land-water and legged-wheeled platforms, together with control boards, wireless communication and multi-robot coordination. The studies are compared on platform type, mobility, main focus and application. The review shows that most designs address mobility, control or sensing individually, while a compact, low-cost platform combining all-terrain mobility with reliable real-time surveillance needs further investigation. Agriculture plays an important role in the development of society and the economy, but farmers face several challenges in continuously monitoring large agricultural fields. Manual field inspection requires considerable time, effort, and human resources, especially in uneven, rough, and difficult-to-access terrains. The development of robotic systems provides an opportunity to improve agricultural monitoring, surveillance, and field inspection. This review paper presents a comprehensive study of existing research related to multi-terrain robots, agricultural surveillance robots, multi-purpose robots, and IoT-based robotic systems. Various studies focusing on six-wheel and multi-wheel robotic platforms, independent wheel driving and steering, obstacle detection and avoidance, camera-based surveillance, wireless communication, IoT, and sensor-based navigation are reviewed. Different locomotion mechanisms and control techniques used to improve robot stability and mobility on uneven terrain are also studied. The reviewed systems demonstrate the potential of robotic platforms for real-time field monitoring, remote surveillance, obstacle detection, crop observation, and identification of unwanted activities in agricultural environments. Special attention is given to the challenges associated with operating robots on rough and unstructured agricultural terrain, including mobility, stability, obstacle handling, and remote monitoring. Based on the literature review, important design requirements and technological approaches for developing a multi-terrain surveillance agriculture robot are identified. The study also highlights the research gap in integrating multi-terrain mobility, agricultural surveillance, obstacle avoidance, and real-time wireless monitoring into a single cost effective robotic platform. This review provides a foundation for the development of a multi-terrain surveillance agriculture robot capable of assisting farmers in field inspection and remote monitoring while reducing manual effort and improving the efficiency of agricultural operations. Keywords Multi-terrain robot; surveillance robot; rocker-bogie; unmanned ground vehicle; wireless monitoring; all terrain mobility.