Abstract:Automatic row guidance is an important technology for improving the operational accuracy of agricultural harvesting equipment, reducing mechanical harvesting losses, and alleviating operators’ workload. To address the insufficient stability of crop-row perception under complex field conditions and the difficulty in balancing control accuracy and real-time performance, the key technologies and research advances in this field were analyzed within a closed-loop control architecture consisting of perception, decision-making, and actuation. The sensing principles, applicable scenarios, and representative applications of mechanical contact sensing, machine vision, light detection and ranging (LiDAR), and multisensor information fusion were systematically reviewed. The development of navigation control algorithms, including proportional-integral-derivative ( PID) control, model predictive control, fuzzy control, and deep reinforcement learning, was summarized. The response characteristics of electro-hydraulic proportional steering, servo motor-based correction, and lateral shifting mechanisms for working components were also analyzed. Based on typical application scenarios and representative cases of automatic row-guidance technology, the remaining problems in its application to agricultural harvesting equipment were identified, and the main directions for future development were discussed.