Kolkata: In a boost to smart farming, the Mechanical Engineering Department of IIT Kharagpur has developed a robotic system to detect plant diseases and help farmers spray pesticides automatically, an institute spokesperson said on Friday.

The Semi-Automatic Tracked Mobile Manipulator cum Agricultural Robotic System uses camera-based image analysis for accurate disease detection and automatic spraying of appropriate pesticides, he said.

While drone-based agricultural robots have gained popularity, they struggle to capture high-quality images of plant leaves, and this robotic system will overcome this limitation, he said.

The robotic system, developed by a team led by Prof. Dilip Kumar Pratihar of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been granted 'India Patent', the official said.

The system aims to address the recurring challenges faced by farmers in identifying plant diseases and ensuring appropriate and safe pesticide application, he said.

Recognising that agricultural terrains are neither completely smooth nor entirely rough, Pratihar and his team proposed a tracked mobile manipulator as the ideal solution, the spokesperson added.

The development of this system, funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, not only aims to reduce the health risks faced by farmers during manual pesticide spraying but also significantly enhances food quality and agricultural productivity.

By minimising crop loss due to diseases, it supports improved yield and cost efficiency, contributing positively to the country's GDP, the official said.

The robot has been manufactured by an OEM named Technido.