Navigation line extraction algorithm for corn spraying robot based on improved YOLOv8s network

•A navigation line extraction algorithm was proposed, which was suitable for different growth periods and complex farmland environment.•The method of locating corn plant by corn plant core was proposed.•A new spatial pyramid structure ASPPF was proposed.•An improved YOLOv8s model ASPPF-YOLOv8s was proposed for more accurate detection of corn plant cores.•The proposed navigation line extraction algorithm can meet the requirements of visual navigation of corn spraying robot.