Abstract
Horticultural grafting is routinely performed manually, demanding a high degree of concentration and requiring operators to withstand extreme humidity and temperature conditions. This article presents the results derived from adapting the splicing technique for tomato grafting, characterized by the coordinated work of two conventional anthropomorphic industrial robots with the support of low-cost passive auxiliary units for the transportation, handling, and conditioning of the seedlings. This work provides a new approach to improve the efficiency of tomato grafting. Six test rates were analyzed, which allowed the system to be evaluated across 900 grafted units, with gradual increases in the speed of robots work, operating from 80 grafts/hour to over 300 grafts/hour. The results obtained show that a higher number of grafts per hour than the number manually performed by skilled workers could be reached easily, with success rates of approximately 90% for working speeds around 210–240 grafts/hour.
Highlights
The herbaceous graft is a growing technique that allows two pieces of living plant tissue to be joined together in such a way that they will unite and later grow and develop as a single composite plant [1]
It is estimated that the work of the grafting process itself can amount to approximately a quarter of the total costs associated per grafted plant; a third of these costs represent the total cost of the seeds, and the rest is essentially divided between the costs of materials and tools, the cost of the clip and the stay in the healing chamber, the energy costs, and the costs of the work of handling and Agronomy 2019, 9, 880; doi:10.3390/agronomy9120880
Singularities included the position of the alveolus in each row of work, the natural variability of the seedling emergence point within each alveolus, and the unique growth morphology of each seedling, among others
Summary
The herbaceous graft is a growing technique that allows two pieces of living plant tissue to be joined together in such a way that they will unite and later grow and develop as a single composite plant [1]. The seeds (of both the scions used and the added cost of the rootstock), the cost of labor, the supplies for each graft, the use of machinery and work tools, and post-graft care in the healing chambers are considered the most important factors in price determination [3,4,5]. It is estimated that the work of the grafting process itself can amount to approximately a quarter of the total costs associated per grafted plant; a third of these costs represent the total cost of the seeds, and the rest is essentially divided between the costs of materials and tools, the cost of the clip and the stay in the healing chamber, the energy costs, and the costs of the work of handling and Agronomy 2019, 9, 880; doi:10.3390/agronomy9120880 www.mdpi.com/journal/agronomy
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