Robot safety issues in field crops - EU Regulatory issues and technical aspects

The use of robots in Precision Agriculture is becoming of great interest, but they introduce a new kind of risk in the field due to their self-acting and self-driving capability. Safety issues appear with respect to people working in the same field in human-robot collaboration (HRC) framework or to the accidental presence of humans or animals. A robot out of control may also invade other areas causing unpredictable harm and damage. Currently, the safety of highly automated agricultural equipment (HAAM) is the responsibility of the manufacturer, who equips them with LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) or bumpers, forces them to move at a slow pace, and in most cases also requires them to be under continuous human surveillance. While the belief that AI can make machines increasingly "self-responsible" is growing, the complexity of machines is increasing, the concept of "inherently safe" seems difficult to achieve in a short time. Active and passive control systems, such as remote control systems that have been applied for decades in equipment safety seem to be useful in more densely populated rural areas to enable robot deployment in precision agriculture.