Title: Optimal conceptual design and vision-based control of a fruit harvesting robot

Authors: K. Saran Kumar; P.S. Shivarama Shankaran; S. Rizwan Asif; S. Karthick; I.A. Palani; Bhupesh Kumar Lad; Abhijeet Patil; Pratik Patil; Harsh Sharma

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, B.S. Abdur Rahman University, Vandalur, Chennai – 600 048, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, B.S. Abdur Rahman University, Vandalur, Chennai – 600 048, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, B.S. Abdur Rahman University, Vandalur, Chennai – 600 048, Tamil Nadu, India ' Mechatronics and Instrumentation Laboratory, Discipline of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Indore, Simrol, Indore – 453 552, Madhya Pradesh, India ' Mechatronics and Instrumentation Laboratory, Discipline of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Indore, Simrol, Indore – 453 552, Madhya Pradesh, India ' Mechatronics and Instrumentation Laboratory, Discipline of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Indore, Simrol, Indore – 453 552, Madhya Pradesh, India ' Mechatronics and Instrumentation Laboratory, Discipline of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Indore, Simrol, Indore – 453 552, Madhya Pradesh, India ' Mechatronics and Instrumentation Laboratory, Discipline of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Indore, Simrol, Indore – 453 552, Madhya Pradesh, India ' Mechatronics and Instrumentation Laboratory, Discipline of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Indore, Simrol, Indore – 453 552, Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract: The main contribution of this paper is to develop a vision-based control of a robotic arm for the harvesting fruits. The camera fixed in the gripper pad enables to precisely locate the fruit and pluck it from the branch. Rigorous stability analysis is done to ensure the guaranteed performance of the closed loop system. The camera feedback locates the exact position of the fruit; this enables the controller to track a suitable and optimal path to reach the target by performing desirable transformations. The manipulator with five-DOF (RRPRR) is designed and optimised for the formulating simple control strategies. The finger-like built gripper is electrically actuated to provide the necessary force required in harvesting the fruit. Also an additional bellow kind of structure is specially designed and located below the gripper which helps to roll down the harvested fruit on to the storage container without damaging it. Numerical simulation analysis was carried out along with the design realisation to justify the context. The advancement in the field of agrionics has also been a source of inspiration in designing agricultural robots.

Keywords: robot design; vision-based control; harvesting robot; dynamics; trajectory tracking; agrionics; farmbot; intelligent machine; fruit harvester.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMR.2018.090944

International Journal of Intelligent Machines and Robotics, 2018 Vol.1 No.1, pp.45 - 59

Received: 02 Jan 2017
Accepted: 10 Mar 2017
Published online: 04 Apr 2018 *