• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.284-290
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• 2013

This study analyzed the geometric, compressive, cutting and friction properties of oriental melons in order to design a gripper capable of soft handling and a cutter for cutting oriental melon vine among the end effector of oriental melon as a preliminary step for developing the end effector of the robot capable of harvesting oriental melons in protected cultivation. As a result, the average length, diameter at the midpoint, weight, volume and roundness of the oriental melons were 108 mm, 70 mm, 188 g, 333 mL and 3.8 mm. Nonlinear regression analysis was performed on the equation $W=L^a{\times}D_2^b$ with variation of the length (L) and diameter (D2) of the weight (W) of the oriental melons. As a result, it was shown that there was a correlation between a of 2.0279 and b of -0.9998 as a constant value. The average diameter of the oriental melon vine was 3.8 mm, and most vines were distributed within a radius of 5 mm from the center. The average yield value, compressive strength and hardness of the oriental melons were $36.5N/cm^2$, $185.7N/cm^2$ and $636.7N/cm^2$, respectively. The average cutting force and shear strength of the oriental melon vines were $2.87{\times}10^{-2}\;N$ and $5.60N/cm^2$, respectively. The maximum friction coefficient of the oriental melons was rubber of 0.609, followed by aluminium of 0.393, stainless steel of 0.177 and teflon of 0.079. It was considered possible to apply it to the size of the gripper and cutter, turning radius, dynamics of drive motor and selection of materials and their quality in light of the position error and safety factor according to the movement when designing end effector based on the analyzed data.