Conceptual Development of Automated Harvester for Tall Oil Palm Tree

Abstract

Innovation and invention in field mechanization for oil palm sector has created a variety of advancement in technology. The change in oil palm operation to mechanization will overcome the problem of labour shortage occurrence in oil palm sector. The problem occurs in harvesting tall oil palm is the height of oil palm that causes difficulty to cut the fresh fruit bunch by using manual labour. Moreover, the use of automated harvester also will make the harvesting operation easier without the requirement of skilled labour and ensuring labour safety. The automated harvester has advantages and disadvantages that need to be improved in meeting the oil palm requirement. This study overviews the mechanization that are used in harvesting tall oil palm. This research project has resulted in the development of high technology mechanization based on previously developed machine for harvesting fresh fruit bunches (FFB) at 10 meter and above of oil palm age tress. However, the previous developed machines cannot be accepted in the current and widely practiced Industrial revolution 4.0 (IR4.0). Mechanization approach makes harvesting tall oil palm a reality to overcome the problem that normally occur in oil palm sector due to height of oil palm.

Bilateral Teleoperation with a Shared Design of Master and Slave Devices for Robotic Excavators in Agricultural Applications

“…Substantial research on harvesting and fruit-picking robots has focused on vegetables and small fruits (Kang et al, 2020;Wagner et al, 2021;You et al, 2020). These robots are generally designed for plants of lower height, as opposed to taller varieties like coconut and oil palm trees (Hudzari et al, 2020;Sowat et al, 2018).…”

“…Designing manipulators or robot arms for harvesting tall plants presents specific challenges due to height constraints (Chikelu, 2023;Firdaus et al, 2018;Hudzari et al, 2020;Khalid & Shuib, 2014). The manipulator's end-effector must be capable of reaching high positions, which can lead to instability if the mobile platform that supports the manipulator is not sufficiently heavy.…”