@article{Shao2026, 
author = {Yang Shao and Yan He and Yakun Fang and Zhengda Li and Ruifang Zhai and Wanneng Yang and Peng Song},
title = {PhenoRob-P: An autonomous robotic system for high-throughput phenotyping of potted plants},
year = {2026},
journal = {Plant Phenomics},
volume = {8},
number = {3},
pages = {100232},
keywords = {Phenotyping robot, High-throughput phenotyping, Multi-sensor fusion navigation, Adaptive phenotyping data acquisition, Cloud-edge collaboration},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.1016/j.plaphe.2026.100232},
doi = {10.1016/j.plaphe.2026.100232},
abstract = {High-throughput phenotyping is essential for resolving genotype-by-environment interactions and accelerating crop breeding. In greenhouse potted-plant systems, narrow aisles, global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-denied operation, variable pot layouts, and plant-level data traceability constrain repeatable automated phenotyping. This study presents PhenoRob-P, a modular autonomous robotic system designed for potted crops in structured facility environments. The system integrates a compact two-wheel differential chassis, a LiDAR–vision fusion framework for row-level navigation, pot-level target identification and local alignment, a six-degree-of-freedom robotic arm with inverse-kinematics-based real-time pose compensation for repeatable multi-view close-range imaging, and a three-tier User–Cloud–Robot platform for task scheduling, remote monitoring, and closed-loop data management. Greenhouse validation showed throughputs of 520 pots/h in continuous scanning mode and 187 pots/h in multi-view fine inspection mode. At travel speeds of 0.2–0.3 m/s, mean terminal positioning errors remained within 30 mm, and approximately 87% of lateral and longitudinal errors fell within ±30 mm. Biological validation demonstrated time-resolved stress phenotyping in wheat, with color indices capturing drought progression and rewatering recovery. For maize, multi-view three-dimensional reconstruction estimated plant height and stem diameter with R2 values of 0.940 and 0.845, respectively, relative to manual measurements. These results show that PhenoRob-P provides an integrated perception-localization-acquisition-analysis workflow for high-throughput, traceable, and time-resolved phenotyping of potted crops.}
}