• 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.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.411-420
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• 1997

The mechanization efficiency using high ability machines such as tractors or combines in a paddy field rice farm is high. Mechanization in harvesting fruits and vegetables is difficult, because they are easy to be damaged. Therefore, Advanced techniques for careful handling fruits and vegetables are necessary in automation and robotization. An apple harvesting robot must have a recognition device to detect the positioning of fruit, manipulators which function like human arms, and hand to take off the fruit. This study is related to the development of a rotatic hand as the first stage in developing the apple harvesting robot. The results are summarized as follows. 1. It was found that a hand that was eccentric in rotatory motion, was better than a hand of semicircular up-and-down motion in harvesting efficiency. 2. The hand was developed to control changes in grasp forces by using tape-type switch sensor which was attatched to fingers' inside. 3. Initial finger positioning was set up to control accurate harvesting by using a tow step fingering position. 4. This study showed the possibility of apple harvesting using the developed robot hand.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2000.11b
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• pp.354-362
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• 2000

In Korea, researches on year-round leaf vegetables production system are in progress, most of them focused on environmental control. Therefore, automation technologies for harvesting, transporting, and grading are in great demand. A robot system for harvesting lettuces, composed of a 3-DOF (degree of freedom) manipulator, an end-effector, a lettuce feeding conveyor, an air blower, a machine vision system, six photoelectric sensors, and a fuzzy logic controller, was developed. A fuzzy logic control was applied to determine appropriate grip force on lettuce. Leaf area index and height were used as input variables and voltage as an output variable for the fuzzy logic controller. Success rate of the lettuce harvesting was 94.12%, and average harvesting time was approximately 5 seconds per lettuce.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2000

In Korea, researches for year-round leaf vegetables production system are in progress and the most of them are focused on environment control. Automation technologies for harvesting , transporting and grading need to be developed. This study was conducted to develop harvesting process automation system profitable to a competitive price. 1. Manipulator and end-effector are to be designed and fabricated , and fuzzy logic controller for controlling these are to be composed. 2. The entire system constructed is to be evaluated through a performance test. A robot system for harvesting a lettuce was developed. It was composed of a manipulator with 20DOF (degrees of freedom) an end-effector, a lettuce feeding conveyor , an air blower , a machine vision device, 6 photoelectric sensors and a fuzzy logic controller. A fuzzy logic control was applied to determined appropriate grip force on lettuce. Leaf area index and height index were used as input parameters, and voltage was used as output parameter for the fuzzy logic controller . Success rate of the lettuce harvesting system was 93.06% , and average harvesting time was about 5 seconds per lettuce.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.415-420
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• 2000

It is very difficult to mechanize tomato harvesting because identifying a target tomato which is partly covered by leaves and stalks is not easy. This research was conducted to develop tomato harvesting robot which can identifying a target tomato, determining its dimensional position, and harvesting it in a limited time. Followings were major findings in this study. The first visual system of the robot was composed of two CCD cameras, however, which could not detect tomato not placed on the center of lens and partly covered by leaves or stalks. Secondary visual device, combined with two cameras and pan tilting was designed which could decreased the positioning errors within $\pm$10mm but still not enough for covered tomato by any obstacles. Finally, laser detector was added to the visual system that could reduce the position detecting errors within 10mm in X-Y direction and 5mm in Z direction for the covered tomatoes.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.629-634
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• 1998

Factory-style plant production system aims to produce the standardized horticultural products with high quality and cleanness. In Korea, researches for year-round leaf vegetables production system are in progress and the most of them are focused on environment control. Automating technologies for harvesting, transporting and grading need to be developed. A lettuce harvesting system applicable to the plant factory was studied. It was composed of an articulated robot with a cutter and a gripper, lettuce feeding conveyor and air blower. Success rate of the developed system was 94.7 %. The system carried out harvesting a lettuce smoothly and the harvesting time was about 6 seconds per lettuce. The results showed a feasibility of robotic lettuce harvesting.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.65-74
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• 2012

Purpose: An autonomous robot was developed for harvesting strawberries cultivated in bench-type systems. Methods: The harvest robot consisted of four main components: an autonomous vehicle, a manipulator with four degrees of freedom (DOF), an end effector with two DOFs, and a color computer vision system. Strawberry detection was performed based on 3D image and distance information obtained from a stereo CCD color camera and a laser device, respectively. Results: In this work, a Cartesian type manipulator system was designed, including an intermediate revolute axis and a double driven arm-based joint axis, so that it could generate collision-free motions during harvesting. A DC servomotor-driven end-effector, consisting of a gripper and a cutter, was designed for gripping and cutting the strawberry stem without damaging the strawberry itself. Real-time position tracking algorithms were developed to detect, recognize, trace, and approach strawberries under natural light conditions. Conclusion: The developed robot system could harvest a strawberry within 7 seconds without damage.

• Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.54-58
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• 2005

In this study, tele-robotics was researched to actualize robots in agriculture. The robot system consisted of a data collecting robot, several robots that performed their own agricultural operations, a server, client computers and networks between robots and computers. In this paper, as a first step, harvesting experiments were carried out. From the results, it was observed that the tele-robotics had feasibility to propel the robotization in agriculture. The tele-robotics has advantages not only that human workers are released from the severe working environment but also that the greenhouse can be monitored and controlled anytime and anywhere.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.399-408
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• 2000

This study is final focused on developing fruit harvesting robot can distinguish fruit type and status accurately. Multi-joint robot is able to discriminate tree shape and select mature fruit by image processing. The multi-joint robot consists of (a) rotating base, (b)turning first joint-arm, (c)rotating and turning second joint-arm, (d)rotating and turning third joint-arm, (e)rotating and turning last joint and (f)picker hand. The operational ranges of the robot are: horizontal 860~2,220mm, vertical 1,440~2,260mm, 270 degrees’rotation angle, 90 or 270 degrees’turning angle. The robot weighs 330kg. The multi-joint robot was designed in high accuracy and efficiency by getting as close as the movements of human arms and waist.