Path planning in continuous adjacent farmlands and robust path-tracking control of a rice-seeding robot in paddy field.

•The optimal working path of a rice seeding robot in several continuous adjacent paddy lands,and the corresponding constraints of the width of the standard farm and the number of sub-lands divided along field road are obtained.•The influence of slip and side-slip on path tracking in paddy field can be converted into equivalent disturbances of lateral position and heading angles in the kinematics model of the rice seeding robot, and the equivalent disturbances can be estimated precisely with a nonlinear observer.•Combined with nonlinear disturbance observer fast terminal sliding mode control is an effective method for autonomous rice seeding robot to achieve accurately path tracking in harsh paddy field. The path tracking deviation can be eliminated quickly without overshooting, and the chattering of the control output can also be attenuated and eliminated effectively.