{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,27]],"date-time":"2026-03-27T15:46:45Z","timestamp":1774626405146,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,3]],"date-time":"2023-01-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1672704000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"JSPS KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for scientific Research (B)","award":["JP20H02106"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JP20H02106"]}]},{"name":"JSPS KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for scientific Research (B)","award":["21J10757"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["21J10757"]}]},{"name":"Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows","award":["JP20H02106"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JP20H02106"]}]},{"name":"Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows","award":["21J10757"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["21J10757"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Grass cutting is necessary to prevent grass from diverting essential nutrients and water from crops. Usually, in hilly and mountainous areas, grass cutting is performed on steep slopes with an inclination angle of up to 60\u00b0 (inclination gradient of 173%). However, such grass cutting tasks are dangerous owing to the unstable positioning of workers. For robots to perform these grass cutting tasks, slipping and falling must be prevented on inclined surfaces. In this study, a robot based on stable propeller control and four-wheel steering was developed to provide stable locomotion during grass cutting tasks. The robot was evaluated in terms of locomotion for different steering methods, straight motion on steep slopes, climbing ability, and coverage area. The results revealed that the robot was capable of navigating uneven terrains with steep slope angles. Moreover, no slipping actions that could have affected the grass cutting operations were observed. We confirmed that the proposed robot is able to cover 99.95% and 98.45% of an area on a rubber and grass slope, respectively. Finally, the robot was tested on different slopes with different angles in hilly and mountainous areas. The developed robot was able to perform the grass cutting task as expected.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s23010528","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,4]],"date-time":"2023-01-04T02:54:55Z","timestamp":1672800895000},"page":"528","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Grass Cutting Robot for Inclined Surfaces in Hilly and Mountainous Areas"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-7923-5036","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yuki","family":"Nishimura","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Ph. D. Program in Empowerment Informatics, School of Integrative and Global Majors, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8573, Japan"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3426-2079","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tomoyuki","family":"Yamaguchi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Engineering, Information and Systems, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8573, Japan"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"110","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biosystemseng.2016.11.004","article-title":"Agricultural robots for field operations. Part 2: Operations and systems","volume":"153","author":"Bechar","year":"2017","journal-title":"Biosyst. Eng."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fountas, S., Mylonas, N., Malounas, I., Rodias, E., Hellmann Santos, C., and Pekkeriet, E. (2020). Agricultural robotics for field operations. 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