• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.91-99
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• 2020

Fruit and vegetable harvesting robots have been widely studied and developed in recent years to reduce the cost of harvesting tasks such as labor and time. However, harvesting robots have many challenges due to the difficulty and uncertainty of task. In this paper, we characterize the crop environment related to the harvesting robot and analyzes state-of-the-art of the harvesting robot especially, in the viewpoint of robotic end-effector. The end-effector, an one of most important element of the harvesting robot, was classified into gripper and harvesting module, which were reviewed in more detail. Performance measures for the evaluation of harvesting robot such as test, detachment success, harvest success, and cycle time were also introduced. Furthermore, we discuss the current limitations of the harvesting robot and challenges and directions for future research.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 1996.06c
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• pp.621-631
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• 1996

It is said that robot can be used for multi-purpose use by changing end effector or/and visual sensor with its software. In this study, it was investigated what multi-purpose robot for fruit-production was using a tomato harvesting robot and a robot to work in vineyard. Tomato harvesting robot consisted of manipulator, end-effector, visual sensor and traveling device. Plant training system of larger size tomato is similar with that of cherry-tomato. Two end-effectors were prepared for larger size tomato and cherry-tomato fruit harvesting operations, while the res components were not changed for the different work objects. A color TV camera could be used for the both work objects, however fruit detecting algorithm and extracted features from image should be changed. As for the grape-robot , several end-effector for harvesting , berry thinning , bagging and spraying were developed and experimented after attaching each end-effector to manipulator end. The manipulator was a polar coordinate type and had five degrees of freedom so that it could have enough working space for the operations. It was observed that visual sensor was necessary for harvesting, bagging and berry-thinning operations and that spraying operation requires another sensor for keeping certain distance between trellis and end-effector. From the experimental results, it was considered that multi-operations by the same robot could be appropriately done on the same or similar plant training system changing some robot components . One of the important results on having function of multi-operation was to be able to make working period of the robot longer.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.281-286
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• 2004

The end-effector is the one of the important factors on development of the cucumber robot to harvester a cucumber. Three end-effectors were designed the single blade end-effector with one blade, the double blade end-effector with two blades and the triple blade end-effector with three blades. Performance tests of the end-effector, the fully integrated system, were conducted to determine the cutting rate by using two different kinds of cucumber. The success rates of cucumber cutting ratio of single end-effector, double end-effector and triple end-effector in laboratory. were 61.7%, 95%, 86.7%, respectively. The cutting rate of single blade or double blade was a little difference with respect to the different diameters of cucumber stem. However, the success cutting rate of the end-effector with triple blade was 61.7% under 29mm diameter of a grabbing stem section. The triple end-effector was not suitable for harvesting a cucumber, but was considered to be suitable for harvesting a grape, an apple and a tomato. The success rate of cucumber cutting ratio of triple end-effectors in greenhouse was 84%. The failure cutting rate was 16% which are due to abnormal shape of cucumber fruit.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 1996.06c
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• pp.1063-1072
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• 1996

Fruit harvesting robots should have more diversity and flexibility in the working conditions and environments than industrial robots. This paper presents an efficient optimization algorithm for redundant manipulators to avoid obstacles using dynamic performance criteria, while the optimization schemes of the previous studies used the performance criteria using kinematic approach. Feasibility and effectiveness of this algorithm were tested through simulations on a 3-degrees-of-freedom manipulator made for this study. Only the position of the end-effector was controlled , which requires only three degrees of freedom. Remaining joints, except for the wrist roll joint, which does not contribute to the end-effector linear velocity, provide two degrees of redundancy. The algorithm was effective to avoid obstacles in the workspace even through the collision occurred in extended workspace, and it was found be to a useful design tool which gives more flexibility to design conditions nd to find the mechanical constraints for fruit harvesting robots.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 1996.06c
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• pp.638-647
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• 1996

Robot manipulators for harvesting fruits must be controlled to track the desired path of end-effector to avoid obstacles under the consideration of collision free area and safety path. This paper presents a robot path control algorithm to secure a collision free area with the recognition of work environments. The flexible space, which does not damage fruits or branches of tree due to their flexibility and physical properties , extends the workspace. Now the task is to control robot path in the extended workspace with the consideration of collision avoidance and velocity limitation at the time of collision concurrently. The feasibility and effectiveness of the new algorithm for redundant manipulators were tested through simulations of a redundant manipulator for different joint velocities.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.244-253
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• 2024

This paper presents a novel stem-cutting device using a twisted string actuation system combined with the cinch bag-typed gripper proposed in previous research. The suggested cutting device was developed to cut the stem of a tomato using two motors. The relationship between contact time and motor angle was mathematically induced, and the contacting time was verified through the experiments. The contact time has decreased as the offset of each pair of strings at the disk increases. The contact time and its deviation were reduced by increasing the radius of the twisted string bundle, and the motor torque to exert an equivalent cutting force was surged at the same time. The proposed cutting mechanism with 16 strands of twisted string bundle and 40 mm of offset can cut the given tomato stems and stalks, exerting up to 132.4 N of cutting force in 4.6 to 6.5seconds.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.172-180
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• 2001

A grape fruit is required for a lot of labor to harvest in time in Korea, since the fruit is cut and grabbed currently by hand. In foreign country, especially France, a grape harvester has been developed for processing to make wine out of a grape, not to eat a fresh grape fruit. However, a harvester which harvests to eat a fresh grape fruit has not been developed yet. Therefore, this study was designed and constructed to develope a image processing system for a fresh grape harvester. Its development involved the integration of a vision system along with an personal computer and two cameras. Grape recognition, which was able to found the accurate cutting position in three dimension by the end-effector, needed to find out the object from the background by using two different images from two cameras. Based on the results of this research the following conclusions were made: The model grape was located and measured within less than 1,100 mm from camera center, which means center between two cameras. The distance error of the calculated distance had the distance error within 5mm by using model image in the laboratory. The image processing system proved to be a reliable system for measuring the accurate distance between the camera center and the grape fruit. Also, difference between actual distance and calculated distance was found within 5 mm using stereo vision system in the field. Therefore, the image processing system would be mounted on a grape harvester to be founded to the position of the a grape fruit.