Autonomous Robotic System for Pumpkin Harvesting

Abstract

The present study focused on the development, optimization, and performance evaluation of a harvesting robot for heavyweight agricultural products. The main objective of developing this system is to improve the harvesting process of the mentioned crops. The pumpkin was selected as a heavyweight target crop for this study. The main components of the robot consist of mobile platforms (the main robot tractor and a parallel robot tractor), a manipulation system and its end-effector, and an integrated control unit. The development procedure was divided into four stages: stage I (designed system using Solidworks), stage II (installation of the developed system on a temporary platform), stage III (developed system on an RT-1 (Yanmar EG453)), and stage IV (developed system on an RT-2 (Yanmar YT5113)). Various indicators related to the performance of the robot were evaluated. The accuracy of 5.8 and 4.78 mm in x and y directions and repeatability of 5.11 mm were observed. The harvesting success rate of 87~92%, and damage rate of 5% resulted in the evaluation of the final version. The average cycle time was 35.1 s, 42.6 s, and 43.2 s for stages II, III, and IV, respectively. The performance evaluations showed that the system’s indicators are good enough to harvest big-sized and heavy-weighted crops. Development of the unique and unified system, including a mobile platform, a manipulation system, an end-effector, and an integrated algorithm, completed the targeted harvesting process appropriately. The system can increase the speed and improve the harvesting process because it can work all day long, has a precise robotic manipulation and end-effector, and a programmable controlling system that can work autonomously.

Research Hotspots and Frontier Prospects in the Field of Agroforestry Picking Robots in China—Cite Space Bibliographic Analysis

“…In 1968, American scholars Schertz et al [8] pioneered the application of robotics to citrus harvesting, establishing a precedent for the study of agroforestry harvesting robots. Currently, agroforestry picking robots have been the subject of extensive research and application on a global scale, and large-scale agribusinesses in some developed nations and regions have developed and deployed robust and stable picking robots [9][10][11][12]. China's research and development of agroforestry picking machines began in the mid-1990s and has yielded fruit.…”