Apparatuses and methods for managing agricultural crops

A method of managing an agricultural crop, including:

• obtaining a map of the crop to be managed;
• utilizing the map and a navigation system to move a vehicle through a field of the crop;
• specifying a type of item to be removed from the crop;
• storing an image of the type of item to be removed in a data storage system;
• capturing a first image of a portion of the crop with a first camera;
• capturing a second image of the portion of the crop with a second camera;
• comparing the first image with the stored image to determine whether the first image includes the type of item to be removed from the crop;
• if the first image includes the type of item to be removed from the crop:
• determining x, y coordinates of the item to be removed from the crop in the first image;
• rectifying the first image and the second image;
• aligning the first image and the second image horizontally;
• translating the x, y coordinates of the item to be removed from the crop in the first image to account for rectification of the images;
• defining a virtual boundary around the item to be removed from the crop in the first image;
• extracting a visual feature located inside the boundary;
• reviewing the second image for a visual feature corresponding to the visual feature extracted from the first image;
• if the second image includes the visual feature corresponding to the visual feature extracted from the first image, filtering the corresponding visual features and confirming that the matching visual features appear on the surface the item to be removed from the crop in both images;
• determining if the corresponding visual features appear on a common horizontal line in the first and second images, and if so, calculating the pixel difference between the first image and the second image and determining a raw pixel shift value;
• determining a conversion factor and converting the raw pixel shift value to a depth estimate;
• mapping in three dimensional space a location of the item to be removed from the crop shown in the first image in relation to the position of a removal tool based on the x, y coordinates of the item to be removed from the crop and the depth estimate;
• aiming the removal tool at the item to be removed from the crop shown in the first image;
• and
• attempting to remove the item to be removed from the crop shown in the first image by activating the removal tool, wherein the activating the removal tool launches a projectile at the item to be removed from the crop shown in the first image with sufficient force to dislodge the item to be removed from the crop.