Abstract
Two types of robotic end-effectors capable of harvesting tomato fruits were manufactured based on the physical properties of tomato plant and tested. The first prototype end-effector consisted of two parallel plate fingers and a suction pad. The fingers pick a fruit off at the joint of its peduncle after the suction cup singulates it by vacuum from other fruits in the same cluster. From the results of harvesting experiment, the end-effector could not harvest fruits with a short peduncle because the fruits were detached from the suction pad before they were gripped by the fingers. Therefore, the second prototype in which the functions to detect the fruit position and the air pressure in the pad were installed, was made, so that the fruits were harvested regardless of the length of their peduncle. Experimental results using the improved end-effector showed that the fruits were harvested successfully with no damage.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Fujiura, T., Ura, M., Kawamura, N. & Namikawa, K. (1990). Fruit Harvesting Robot for Orchard. Journal of the Japanese Society of Agricultural Machinery 52(1): 35–42.
Kondo, N., Monta, M., Shibano, Y., Mohri, K., Yamashita, J. & Fujiura, T. (1992). Agricultural Robots (2): Manipulators and Fruits Harvesting Hands. In ASAE Paper, No. 923518.
Ting, K. C., Giacomelli, G. A. & Shen, S. J. (1990). Robot Workcell for Transplanting of Seedlings (Part 1). Trans. ASAE 33(3): 1005–1010.
Ting, K. C., Giacomelli, G. A., Shen, S. J. & Kabala, W. P. (1990). Robot Workcell for Transplanting of Seedlings (Part 2). Trans. ASAE 33(3): 1013–1017.
Monta, M., Kondo, N., Shibano, Y., Mohri, K., Yamashita, J. & Fujiura, T. (1992). Agricultural Robots (3): Grape Berry Thinning Hand. In ASAE Paper, No. 923519.
Kawamura, N., Namikawa, K., Fujiura, T. & Ura, M. (1984). Study on Agricultural Robot (Part 1). Journal of the Japanese Society of Agricultural Machinery 46(3): 353–358.
Okamoto, T., Shirai, Y., Fujiura, T. & Kondo, N. (1992). Intelligent Robotics. Jikkyo Shuppan, Japan: Tokyo.
Kondo, N., Monta, M., Shibano, Y. & Mohri, K. (1993). Basic Mechanism of Robot Adapted to Physical Properties of Tomato Plant. Proceedings of International Conference for Agricultural Machinery and Process Engineering 3: 840–849.
Kondo, N., Monta, M., Fujiura, T., Shibano, Y. & Mohri, K. (1994). Control Method for 7 DOF Robot to Harvest Tomato. Proceedings of the Asian Control Conference 1: 1–4.
Kondo, N., Monta, M., Shibano, Y. & Mohri, K. (1993). Two Finger Harvesting Hand with Absorptive Pad Based on Physical Properties of Tomato. Environ. Control in Biol. 31(2): 87–92.
D'Esnon, A. G., Rabatel, G., Pellenc, R., Journeau, A. & Aldon, M. J. (1987). MAGALI – A Self Propelled Robot to Pick Apples. ASAE Paper, No. 871037.
Reed, J. N., He, W. & Tillett, D. (1995). Picking Mushrooms by Robot. Proceedings of International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Bioproduction and Processing 1: 27–34.
Ting, K. C., Giacomelli, G. A. & Fang, W. (1993). Decision Support System for Single Truss Tomato Production. Proceedings XXV CIOSTACIGR V Congress: 70–76.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Monta, M., Kondo, N. & Ting, K. End-Effectors for Tomato Harvesting Robot. Artificial Intelligence Review 12, 11–25 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006595416751
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006595416751