An automatable, field camera track system for phenotyping crop lodging and crop movement

High throughput phenotyping systems enable rapid data collection for plant breeders. Some plant traits such as lodging, or the breaking and falling over of plant stems under wind stress, are complex and not easily measured through existing high throughput imaging platforms. We present designs for an automatable camera system that can be used in the quantification of crop lodging and crop movement under field wind conditions. Using a 360FLY 4K hemispherical video camera, industrial curtain track, and a raspberry pi computer, the camera system is capable of capturing aspects of crop lodging and movement unquantifiable by other phenotyping systems, such as unmanned aerial vehicles. The design is versatile and inexpensive relative to commercial camera track systems, and could be employed to quantify a variety of plant traits from detailed images in a field setting.