# Assessment of Smart Mechatronics Applications in Agriculture: A Review
## 5 Conclusions and Recommendations  
As indicated by the reported use of mechatronics applications in different areas of agriculture, the agricultural sector is rapidly becoming an industrial sector. Smart mechatronics systems technologies are needed to extend this transformation to developing countries. This review examined the current use of mechatronics systems in agriculture and the relevant research performed to date in different countries around the world. The results showed that agricultural systems use smart technology for many applications. The countries focusing most on mechatronics in agriculture are China and Japan, making Asia a world leader in this technological area. Other nations, especially in Africa, must follow suit and apply mechatronics solutions to meet future food demands of their growing populations. Relevant research papers on this issue were obtained from different databases, but there were no statistically significant differences in the number of hits obtained usingdifferent keywords. As evidenced by the dataset obtained (88 articles), there has been widespread research on new mechatronics applications for agriculture, and modern farms use various mechatronics components, such as networks.  
However, some components not recommended for smart mechatronics applications are frequently used in modern agriculture technology. Moreover, most developers use binary units to turn the system on and off, but because this is a single unit of information that is either 0 or 1 (off or on, false or true, low or high), it slows the circuit in mechatronics computation. Quantum computing approaches, which accelerate mechatronics computing, have not been used to date. Developers are now using various modules, such as programmable logic controllers and the like in different network topologies, which is a better approach but still needs some improvements.  
Overall, the results indicate that future agriculture should use smart mechatronics systems because:  
The application and integration of mechatronics in agriculture has resulted in many beneficial outcomes, such as reduced labor costs and reduced crop production costs through providing higher yields. Advanced mechatronics-based machines and devices used for farm automation are available, and a better understanding of these methods can help to design better processes.  
Smart mechatronics can reduce the use of pesticides on farms by up to 80%. In different shapes of fields, mechatronics systems are more efficient and can work around difficult obstacles easily.  
Smart mechatronics systems can be small in size, accumulate near-crop data, and perform mechanical weeding, mowing, spraying, and fertilizing.  
Smart mechatronics systems with cameras and sensors are capable of detecting weeds, identifying pests, parasites, or diseases, and other stresses. The sensors are usually selective, and only affected areas are treated.  
Smart mechatronics systems provide an opportunity to replace human operators with a good return on investment by providing effective solutions.  
Therefore, the use of mechatronics systems in the agriculture sector, especially in developing countries, such as Ethiopia and Nigeria, with high population counts, can be strongly recommended.  
S.A.: Visualization, writing, original draft, review and editing, conceptualization, data curation, formula analysis, investigations, methodology, and software's, validation, project management. G.G.: Supervision, validation, funding, acquisitions, and project management, review and editing, conceptualization. H.M.A.: Writing review and editing, checking technical parts, review and editing, conceptualization. K.O.V.: Writing review and editing, checking technical parts, project management, review and editing, conceptualization. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research received no external funding.  
Not applicable.  
The authors declare no conflict of interest.