Abstract
Efficient transplanting has been identified as one of the essential steps towards achieving an increased yield in the farm. However, many factors are affecting these processes such as soil moisture content and the speed of pickup. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of different soil moisture content and pickup speeds on pickup force, balance, resistance, and lump damage during transplanting of seedlings. The results showed that penetration resistance was inversely proportional to the speed and soil moisture content. The highest penetration resistance (38 N) values were recorded under the lowest speed (0.5 mm/s) at the low moisture content; whereas, the lowest penetration resistance was obtained at highest speed (10 mm/s) under high moisture content. The highest pick-up force resistance values were recorded under the lowest speed (0.5 mm/s) at low moisture content than the lowest pick-up force resistance of 1.4 N at (10 mm/s) under the high moisture content. On the other hand, an increase of pick-up force led to a decrease in the pick-up force resistance. The pick-up damage and the pick-up speed are directly proportional—nevertheless, the former increased with a decreasing soil moisture content. The highest pick-up damage values (82%) were observed under the top-most speed (10 mm/s) at high moisture content. It can be concluded that for successful auto-transplanting of seedling the soil condition, the force applied and speed should be taken into consideration. This work will implement an effective seedling-picking performance and basis for the optimal design of end-effectors.
Highlights
Efficient transplanting has been identified as one of the critical steps towards achieving an increased yield on the farm
The highest penetration resistance values were recorded under the lowest speed of 0.5 mm/s at the lower moisture content; whereas, the lowest penetration resistance was obtained at the highest pick-up speed of 10 mm/s under the high moisture content
The highest pick-up force resistance values were recorded under the lowest speed (0.5 mm/s) at the low moisture content (LMC); whereas, the lowest pick-up resistance was obtained at 10 mm/s under the high moisture content HMC
Summary
Efficient transplanting has been identified as one of the critical steps towards achieving an increased yield on the farm. Understanding the importance of the soil-lump physical and mechanical interaction effect on transplanting could enhance effective means of transplanting vegetables automatically [1]. The seedling transplanting machinery is mainly semi-automatic, and the bottleneck of its development lies in the seedling collection mechanism that is still in continuous research [2]. As developed by Choi (2002) [3], a gripping robot could be used for vegetable transplanting. The end-effector’s design of plug seedlings transplanting should be based on the mechanical properties of substrate lump [4]. The development of seedling transplanting system is focused on the composition of mechanical systems, there is relatively much less research on the effect of soil moisture content (SMC) and end-effector speed on changes in seedling pickup force and lump damage [5]
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