Climate change, increase in world population and the war in Ukraine have led nations such as the UK to put a larger focus on food security, while simultaneously trying to halt declines in biodiversity and reduce risks to human health posed by chemically-reliant farming practices. Achieving these goals simultaneously will require novel approaches and accelerating the deployment of Agri-Robotics from the lab and into the field. In this paper we describe the ARWAC robot platform for mechanical weeding. We explain why the mechanical weeding approach is beneficial compared to the use of pesticides for removing weeds from crop fields. Thereafter, we present the system design and processing pipeline for generating a course of action for the robot to follow, such that it removes as many weeds as possible. Finally, we end by proposing a trust-based ladder of autonomy that will be used, based on the users' confidence in the robot system.

翻译：气候变化、全球人口增长以及乌克兰战争导致英国等国家更加关注粮食安全，同时试图遏制生物多样性下降，并降低依赖化学农药的农业实践对人类健康构成的风险。要同时实现这些目标，需要采取新颖的方法，并加速农业机器人技术从实验室走向田间部署。本文介绍了用于机械除草的ARWAC机器人平台。我们阐述了为何机械除草方法相较于使用农药清除农田杂草更具优势。随后，我们展示了系统设计和处理流程，用以生成机器人应遵循的行动方案，使其尽可能多地清除杂草。最后，我们提出了一种基于信任的自主性阶梯，该阶梯将根据用户对机器人系统的信心来使用。