Sensor guided biped felling machine for steep terrain harvesting

Meaclem, Christopher V.; Shao, Lei; Parker, Richard; Gutschmidt, Stefanie; Hann, C.E.; Milne, Bart; Chen, Xiaoqi

doi:10.1109/coase.2014.6899446

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Bottom: release of initial tree. [28] commercial plantation forest on New Zealand's rough, steep terrain; despite the best intentions of the forest's managers, trees that are planted in rows often develop over their 30-year lifespan to adopt irregular positions and poses due to a variety of environmental factors. In this and other such cases, each element of the crop can be considered a node, and a path between nodes can be considered an edge.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further, a generic partitioning strategy is developed allowing the integration of other planners that were previously impractical for large graphs. A case study is formulated based upon the tree-felling machine developed by Meaclem et al in [28]. In the study, the application of tree felling is modelled using graph representation and approached via the proposed node-visitation method.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A quarter-scale, tree-traversing robot has been developed [28]. The design consists of three basic elements: the arms, wrists and grippers.…”

Section: Tree-to-tree Felling Machinementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

K-Means Partitioned Space Path Planning (KPSPP) for Autonomous Robotic Harvesting

Meaclem

Chen

Gutschmidt

et al. 2015

International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems

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A three-dimensional coverage path-planning algorithm is proposed for discrete harvesting machines. Although prior research has developed methods for coverage planning in continuous-crop fields, no such algorithm has been developed for discrete crops such as trees. The problem is formulated as a graph traversal problem and solved using graph techniques. Paths to facilitate autonomous operation are generated. A case study is formed around the novel tree-to-tree felling system developed by the University of Canterbury and Scion. This machine is being developed to manoeuvre through New Zealand's plantation forest to fell Pinus radiata trees on steep ( ≤ 45°) terrain. Algorithm performance is evaluated in 14 commercial plantation forests. Results indicate that a mean coverage of 84.43% was achieved.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

K-Means Partitioned Space Path Planning (KPSPP) for Autonomous Robotic Harvesting

Meaclem

Chen

Gutschmidt

et al. 2015

International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems

Self Cite

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“…The method was evaluated under different lighting conditions and it was still possible to detect the trunks. The system's path planning is based on the K-Means algorithm, which prioritizes the search for paths that visit a larger number of trees [42]. This type of robot was developed to perform tasks of measuring tree girth, location and mainly for pruning, as this locomotion system eliminates the need for a human to place/remove the pruning robot from the tree.…”

Section: Robotic Applications In Forest For Planting Pruning and Harvestingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in Forest Robotics: A State-of-the-Art Survey

2021

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The development of robotic systems to operate in forest environments is of great relevance for the public and private sectors. In this sense, this article reviews several scientific papers, research projects and commercial products related to robotic applications for environmental preservation, monitoring, wildfire firefighting, inventory operations, planting, pruning and harvesting. After conducting critical analysis, the main characteristics observed were: (a) the locomotion system is directly affected by the type of environmental monitoring to be performed; (b) different reasons for pruning result in different locomotion and cutting systems; (c) each type of forest, in each season and each type of soil can directly interfere with the navigation technique used; and (d) the integration of the concept of swarm of robots with robots of different types of locomotion systems (land, air or sea) can compensate for the time of executing tasks in unstructured environments. Two major areas are proposed for future research works: Internet of Things (IoT)-based smart forest and navigation systems. It is expected that, with the various characteristics exposed in this paper, the current robotic forest systems will be improved, so that forest exploitation becomes more efficient and sustainable.

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“…This robot is able to climb a tree using 4 wheels [5]. Meaclem et al investigated a biped mechanism of a felling machine that climbs between trees using two legs like a monkey [11]. Kolb et al proposed a tree trunk detection system for a Open Access *Correspondence: tenkai@iwate-u.ac.jpsemi-autonomous tree felling robot [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Safe tree felling using expansion agent

Kim

Abe²,

Numakura

et al. 2017

Robomech J

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We discuss about safe tree felling methods. In previous work, tree felling robots that were equipped with cutting instruments have been investigated in order to keep workers' safety. However, these robots may take damage when trees fall down against them. We propose a tree felling framework that maintains the workers and robots both in safe. In the proposed framework, a robot inserts a slow-acting expansion agent at the trunk of a tree. While the agent is expanding, the workers and robots escape from the tree. Also, we propose two drilling methods that are able to realize the proposed framework. In the experiments, conventional drilling methods that have been used for rocks did not divide logs. On the other hand, the proposed methods realized the divisions without any crack in the product side of them. The proposed methods were effective against standing trees too.

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Sensor guided biped felling machine for steep terrain harvesting

Cited by 6 publications

References 14 publications

K-Means Partitioned Space Path Planning (KPSPP) for Autonomous Robotic Harvesting

K-Means Partitioned Space Path Planning (KPSPP) for Autonomous Robotic Harvesting

Advances in Forest Robotics: A State-of-the-Art Survey

Safe tree felling using expansion agent

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