Systems and methods of restoring a lake including dredging, island creation, water treatment, real estate development, computer modeling of environmental conditions, wave height reduction, sediment removal and encapsulation, bathymetry contouring, littoral zone restoration, plant restoration, and/or fish restoration.

A plant detection system includes a radiation module and a photodetector system. The photodetector system includes a photodetector housing, one or more photodetectors, a detector lens, and an aperture plate. The aperture plate is disposed within the photodetector housing between the detector lens and the one or more photodetectors and has an aperture extending therethrough. The detector lens and the aperture plate are configured so that stray radiation received by the detector lens is directed through the aperture in the aperture plate or onto a surface of the aperture plate without being directed onto sidewalls of the photodetector housing.

A substantially rectangular and open bottom shield configured to be fitted around an in-ground plant at ground level as enabled by an elongated slit and central aperture. A peripheral wall perpendicular to an opaque top panel extends downward around at least 75% of the perimeter of the top panel. The top panel is inclined toward the central aperture through which water and fertilizer can flow toward the plant root system.

A substantially rectangular and open bottom shield configured to be fitted around an in-ground plant at ground level as enabled by an elongated slit and central aperture. A peripheral wall perpendicular to an opaque top panel extends downward around at least 75% of the perimeter of the top panel. The top panel is inclined toward the central aperture through which water and fertilizer can flow toward the plant root system.

An obstacle recognition method includes determining a candidate obstacle region in a candidate weeding region image according to color information of the candidate weeding region image; obtaining contour information of the candidate obstacle region and chrominance information and value information of the candidate weeding region image; and determining, according to the contour information and the chrominance information, or the contour information, the chrominance information, and the value information, whether there is an obstacle in the candidate weeding region image. A related obstacle recognition apparatus, electronic device, computer-readable storage medium, and weeding robot are also disclosed.

An obstacle recognition method includes determining a candidate obstacle region in a candidate weeding region image according to color information of the candidate weeding region image; obtaining contour information of the candidate obstacle region and chrominance information and value information of the candidate weeding region image; and determining, according to the contour information and the chrominance information, or the contour information, the chrominance information, and the value information, whether there is an obstacle in the candidate weeding region image. A related obstacle recognition apparatus, electronic device, computer-readable storage medium, and weeding robot are also disclosed.

A plant detection system includes a radiation module and a photodetector system. The photodetector system includes a photodetector housing, one or more photodetectors, a detector lens, and an aperture plate. The aperture plate is disposed within the photodetector housing between the detector lens and the one or more photodetectors and has an aperture extending therethrough. The detector lens and the aperture plate are configured so that stray radiation received by the detector lens is directed through the aperture in the aperture plate or onto a surface of the aperture plate without being directed onto sidewalls of the photodetector housing.

Plant scanning vehicles (10) including, but not limited to, plant scanning vehicles for use in field-based phenotyping. There is a central body (16); three or more legs (15) extending from the central body (16) to support a wheel (13) on each leg (15); wherein the three or more legs (15) are mounted to the central body (16) rotatably about a respective vertical axis (95) to allow adjustment of a track width W of the vehicle by rotating the legs wherein the legs are mechanically coupled to transmit rotation between the legs about their respective vertical axes and the central body (16) or the three or more legs (13) are configured to support a sensor (47) to scan plants.

A method of real-time plant selection and removal from a plant field including capturing a first image of a first section of the plant field, segmenting the first image into regions indicative of individual plants within the first section, selecting the optimal plants for retention from the first image based on the first image and the previously thinned plant field sections, sending instructions to the plant removal mechanism for removal of the plants corresponding to the unselected regions of the first image from the second section before the machine passes the unselected regions, and repeating the aforementioned steps for a second section of the plant field adjacent the first section in the direction of machine travel.

A method of real-time plant selection and removal from a plant field including capturing a first image of a first section of the plant field, segmenting the first image into regions indicative of individual plants within the first section, selecting the optimal plants for retention from the first image based on the first image and the previously thinned plant field sections, sending instructions to the plant removal mechanism for removal of the plants corresponding to the unselected regions of the first image from the second section before the machine passes the unselected regions, and repeating the aforementioned steps for a second section of the plant field adjacent the first section in the direction of machine travel.