Opportunities for Robotic Systems and Automation in Cotton Production

Barnes, Edward M.; Morgan, Gaylon D.; Hake, Kater; Devine, Jon; Kurtz, Ryan; Ibendahl, Gregory A.; Sharda, Ajay; Rains, Glen C.; Snider, John L.; Maja, Joe Mari; Thomasson, J. Alex; Lu, Yutong; Gharakhani, Hussein; Griffin, James M.; Kimura, Emi; Hardin, Robert G.; Raper, Tyson B.; Young, Sierra; Fue, Kadeghe G.; Pelletier, Mathew G.; Wanjura, John D.; Holt, Greg A.

doi:10.3390/agriengineering3020023

Cited by 27 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…However, it is often not possible to retrieve all the plastics because some break down into smaller fragments that evade retrieval/get buried in the soil. These plastic residuals get picked up by the automatic harvesters which are mainly of two types (spindle pickers and cotton strippers) in countries that have automated cotton harvesting; although the risk of picking them up is minimal in other countries like India, China, and African countries where mechanical harvesters have not yet penetrated the market and manual harvesting is still the norm [26,43].…”

Section: Plastic Contamination In Thementioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the picker-type mechanical cotton harvesters are more selective in removing seed cotton from the pods (called "bolls"), using a set of spindles, the stripper-type mechanical harvesters are less selective/gentle in harvesting the seed cotton from cotton plant stands, and therefore, create more trash contents (including plastic mulch residues, shopping bags, etc.) in the value chain compared with picker-type harvesters [26,[44][45].…”

Section: Harvesting and Post-harvesting Handling Phasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Review of Plastic Contamination Challenges and Mitigation Efforts in Cotton and Textile Milling Industries

Adeleke¹

2022

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Plastic contamination is a topical issue in the cotton and textile industries. These plastic contaminants come from diverse sources, including agricultural mulch films, improperly disposed plastic trash near cotton fields, and importantly, the plastic wraps used to cover cylindrical modules built by John Deere’s onboard module builder harvesters. When these different plastic materials end up in the cotton lint bales, the value of the bale to the textile mills plummets significantly. To that end, there has been a concerted effort by the two major industries by this issue to find lasting solutions to the menace posed to their profitability by plastic. In this review article, the subject of plastic contamination within these industries is first put into perspective. Thereafter, the cotton value chain is subdivided into different phases from pre-cultivation to textile mills. The root causes of plastic contamination in each of the phases are then analyzed, followed by discussions of the select solutions that have been developed or are being developed in response to the challenge by the industry and researchers. Finally, from the author’s perspective, brief projections for the future direction of plastic mitigation efforts within the cotton and textile industries are presented. This review is envisaged to serve as a useful reference for new hands starting their research career in cotton- and textile-related industries, as well as practicing professionals needing to keep abreast of developments in the industry.

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Section: Plastic Contamination In Thementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Harvesting and Post-harvesting Handling Phasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Plastic Contamination Challenges and Mitigation Efforts in Cotton and Textile Milling Industries

Adeleke¹

2022

Preprint

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“…Plastic contamination in cotton is thought to be a major contributor to the loss of a USD 0.02/kg premium that U.S. cotton used to command on the international market due to its reputation as one of the cleanest cottons in the world. Current data now shows U.S. cotton is trading at a USD 0.01/kg discount, relative to the market for a total loss of USD 0.034/kg with respect to market conditions prior to wide-spread adoption of plastic-wrapped cotton modules [2,3]. Extrapolating this loss of premium out across the annual cotton yield for a typical year in the United States; the cost of this loss to U.S. producers is in excess of USD 750 million annually.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cotton Gin Stand Machine-Vision Inspection and Removal System for Plastic Contamination: Software Design

2021

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The removal of plastic contamination from cotton lint is an issue of top priority to the U.S. cotton industry. One of the main sources of plastic contamination showing up in marketable cotton bales is plastic used to wrap cotton modules produced by John Deere round module harvesters. Despite diligent efforts by cotton ginning personnel to remove all plastic encountered during module unwrapping, plastic still finds a way into the cotton gin’s processing system. To help mitigate plastic contamination at the gin, a machine-vision detection and removal system was developed that utilizes low-cost color cameras to see plastic coming down the gin-stand feeder apron, which upon detection, blows plastic out of the cotton stream to prevent contamination. This paper presents the software design of this inspection and removal system. The system was tested throughout the entire 2019 cotton ginning season at two commercial cotton gins and at one gin in the 2018 ginning season. The focus of this report is to describe the software design and discuss relevant issues that influenced the design of the software.

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“…Plastic contamination in US lint bales (218 kg/bale) has increased with the rapid adoption of round module building cotton pickers and strippers [1]. As a result, in 2018, USDA Agricultural Marketing Service adopted new extraneous matter classing codes 71 and 72 for plastic contamination levels 1 and 2, respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Integrated Plastic Contamination Monitoring System for Cotton Module Feeders

et al. 2021

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Plastic contamination in US lint bales has increased with the adoption of new cotton harvesters that form cylindrical or round modules on the machine. It is of significant interest to the US cotton industry to reduce this contamination to preserve grower profitability and the reputation of the US as a reliable source of clean cotton fiber. The objective of this work is to describe the design and operation of a system for use on cotton gin module feeders that provides monitoring of plastic accumulation on the dispersing cylinders and video data to help document the module wrap condition and unloading/unwrapping procedures that may have caused the potential contamination event on the dispersing cylinders. In 2020, an integrated plastic contamination monitoring system was installed on module feeders at two commercial cotton gins in Texas. The system is comprised of sub-systems that provide images of plastic accumulation on the dispersing cylinders, a log of the processing sequence for round modules, video data of the unloading/unwrapping process for each module and a software program that integrates the data from the two sub-systems. The system was developed to operate on one computer, store the data in a common location, and simplify the process of extracting module specific data for a given event when plastic accumulates on the module feeder dispersing cylinders. The data provided by the system can be useful to manufacturers in comparing performance among module wrap products as well as to gin managers in training gin employees on module handling procedures to mitigate plastic contamination and improve worker safety.

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Opportunities for Robotic Systems and Automation in Cotton Production

Cited by 27 publications

References 47 publications

A Review of Plastic Contamination Challenges and Mitigation Efforts in Cotton and Textile Milling Industries

A Review of Plastic Contamination Challenges and Mitigation Efforts in Cotton and Textile Milling Industries

Cotton Gin Stand Machine-Vision Inspection and Removal System for Plastic Contamination: Software Design

An Integrated Plastic Contamination Monitoring System for Cotton Module Feeders

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