IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v13y2023i4p848-d1120420.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Design and Experiment of an Underactuated Broccoli-Picking Manipulator

Author

Listed:
  • Huimin Xu

    (College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China)

  • Gaohong Yu

    (College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China
    Key Laboratory of Transplanting Equipment and Technology of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310018, China)

  • Chenyu Niu

    (College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China
    New H3C Artificial Intelligence Technologies Co., Ltd., Hangzhou 310018, China)

  • Xiong Zhao

    (College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China
    Key Laboratory of Transplanting Equipment and Technology of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310018, China)

  • Yimiao Wang

    (College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China)

  • Yijin Chen

    (College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China)

Abstract

Mature broccoli has large flower balls and thick stems. Therefore, manual broccoli picking is laborious and energy-consuming. However, the big spheroid vegetable-picking manipulator has a complex structure and poor enveloping effect and easily causes mechanical damage. Therefore, a broccoli flower ball-picking manipulator with a compact structure and simple control system was designed. The manipulator was smart in structure and stable in configuration when enveloped in flower balls. First, a physical damage test was carried out on broccoli according to the underactuated manipulator’s design scheme. The maximum surface pressure of the flower ball was 30 N, and the maximum cutting force of the stem was 35 N. Then, kinematic analysis was completed, and the statical model of the underactuated mechanism was established. The dimension of the underactuated mechanism for each connecting rod was determined based on the damage test results and design requirements. The sizes of each connecting rod were 50 cm, 90 cm, 50 cm, 90 cm, 50 cm, 60 cm, and 65 cm. The statical model calculated the required thrust of the underactuated mechanism as 598.66–702.88 N. Then, the manipulator was simulated to verify its reliability of the manipulator. Finally, the manipulator’s motion track, speed, and motor speed were determined in advance in the laboratory environment. One-hundred picking tests were carried out on mature broccoli with a 135–185 mm diameter. Results showed that the manipulator had an 84% success rate in picking and a 100% lossless rate. The fastest single harvest time in the test stand was 11.37 s when the speed of the robot arm was 3.4 m/s, and the speed of the stepper motor was 60 r/min.

Suggested Citation

  • Huimin Xu & Gaohong Yu & Chenyu Niu & Xiong Zhao & Yimiao Wang & Yijin Chen, 2023. "Design and Experiment of an Underactuated Broccoli-Picking Manipulator," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:4:p:848-:d:1120420
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/4/848/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/4/848/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mohamed Ibrahim El Didamony & Ahmed Mohamed El Shal, 2020. "Fabrication and Evaluation of a Cabbage Harvester Prototype," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Eleni Vrochidou & Viktoria Nikoleta Tsakalidou & Ioannis Kalathas & Theodoros Gkrimpizis & Theodore Pachidis & Vassilis G. Kaburlasos, 2022. "An Overview of End Effectors in Agricultural Robotic Harvesting Systems," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-35, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cheng Shen & Zhong Tang & Maohua Xiao, 2023. "“Eyes”, “Brain”, “Feet” and “Hands” of Efficient Harvesting Machinery," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-3, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jinming Zheng & Lin Wang & Xiaochan Wang & Yinyan Shi & Zhenyu Yang, 2023. "Parameter Calibration of Cabbages ( Brassica oleracea L.) Based on the Discrete Element Method," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-17, February.
    2. Łukasz Kuta & Piotr Komarnicki & Katarzyna Łakoma & Joanna Praska, 2023. "Tomato Fruit Quality as Affected by Ergonomic Conditions While Manually Harvested," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-18, September.
    3. Wenyu Tong & Jianfei Zhang & Guangqiao Cao & Zhiyu Song & Xiaofeng Ning, 2023. "Design and Experiment of a Low-Loss Harvesting Test Platform for Cabbage," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-20, June.
    4. Fu Zhang & Zijun Chen & Yafei Wang & Ruofei Bao & Xingguang Chen & Sanling Fu & Mimi Tian & Yakun Zhang, 2023. "Research on Flexible End-Effectors with Humanoid Grasp Function for Small Spherical Fruit Picking," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, January.
    5. Huawei Yang & Yinzeng Liu & Shaowei Wang & Huixing Qu & Ning Li & Jie Wu & Yinfa Yan & Hongjian Zhang & Jinxing Wang & Jianfeng Qiu, 2023. "Improved Apple Fruit Target Recognition Method Based on YOLOv7 Model," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-21, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:4:p:848-:d:1120420. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.