Aiming at the current problems of low efficiency and automation and single measurement mode in river flow measurement,a programmable logic controller(PLC)-based river automatic flow measurement robot system design and realization scheme is proposed.The robot system consists of four modules:motion system,acquisition system,human-machine interaction,and remote communication.Firstly,the hardware structure of the automatic flow measurement robot system is designed to realize the functions of the automatic flow measurement robot's movement on the river track and lead fish collection and release.Then,the PLC-based measurement and control system is developed,and the PLC ladder diagram and hardware connection scheme are designed to realize the motion control of the automatic flow measurement robot.Finally,the automatic flow measurement robot system transmits the data collected by multi-sensors to the control screen via RS-485 communication protocol and combines with 4G remote technology to realize the remote transmission of the collected data and operation commands.Through the on-site simulation of the acquisition test,the robot system can realize the functions of automatic flow measurement,remote control,fault self-test,etc.,and provide a variety of measurement modes to meet the needs of the use of river flow measurement.The design of the system lays the foundation for the research of intelligent river data acquisition.