Cherry Harvesting Robot

Bhosle B. S. 11AG61R04 Farm Machinery And Power

INTRODUCTION
y Necessity of Cherry harvesting robot. y Binocular stereo-vision. y 3 D vision system. y Position sensing device (PSD).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Cultivation cycle: Vase form training: Fruits will be distributed widely in large cherry crown. Single trunk training: Fruits are located around the trunk.

Fig.1. Single Trunk Training (Nara fruit tree research center, Nara prefecture, Japan)

MANUPULATOR
Axis of up and down traverse: Driven by AC servomotor and a screw mechanism.

Three axes of right-left turning: Driven by small AC servomotors and Harmonic reduction gears.

3-D VISION SENSOR

Light projector. Photo detector. Scanning device.

Fig. 3. 3-D vision sensor. It is equipped with a light projector, a photo detector, and scanning device.

(a) Experimental cherry.

(b) Infrared image.

(c) Red image.

(d) Range image.

(e) Segmentation.

Fig. 4. Example of images. Fruit image is expanded in the red image.

END EFFECTORS:

Fig. 5. End Effector. It consisted a fruit sucking device, an openclose mechanism, back-forth mechanism, and a pair of fingers.

(a) Sucking a fruit.

(b) Fingers move forward and close halfway

(c) Fingers move further and grip peduncles (d) End effector detaches peduncle

Fig. 6. Motion Of End Effectors.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

y Image recognition experiment:

Cherry trees used for experiment were of koulkanishiki variety Cherry trees were 2m in height. They were cultivated by using single trunk training.

CONTDu
The cherry trees were scanned from four direction: the left of the trunk, left front, right front, the right of the trunk. The experiment was conducted by using 3-D vision sensor.

Fig. 7. Scanning direction.

Harvesting experiment:
The harvesting experiment was conducted with same cherry trees. If there was more than one fruit, the fruit nearest the robot was harvested first. To approach without collision, mid point was decided.

CONTDu
The time required for each fruit was 14 sec.

The fruits should be harvested with peduncles.

Fig. 8. Flow chart of harvesting operation (left side). Detailed flow of Process X is shown in the right side

CONCLUSION
Cherry fruits are easy to damage. Another end effector may be necessary. The fruit visibility is one of the main important factor. Fruit hidden by the leaves may be recognized by scanning upward. Binding leaves are also favorable for the fruits.

REFERENCES
Hanten, E.J.V., Hemming, J., Tuijl, B.A.J., Kornet, J.G., Meuleman, J., 2002. An autonomous robot for harvesting cucumbers in greenhouses. Autonomous Robots 13, 241 258. Gao, W., Fujiura, T., Dohi, M., Nakao, S., 1997. Selective harvesting robot for crisp head vegetables. J. Jpn. Soc. Agric. Mach. 59 (3), 3745.

CONTDu
Fujiura, T., Ura, M., Kawamura, N., Namikawa, K., 1990. Fruit harvesting robot for the orchard. J. Jpn. Soc. Agric. Mach. 52 (2), 3542. Harrell, R.C., Adsit, P.D., Pool, T.A., Hoffman, R., 1990. The Florida robotic grove-lab. Trans. Am. Soc. Agric. Eng. 33, 391399.