Justification of Parameters of a Robotic Platform for Strawberry Harvesting

Abstract

One of the most important tasks when performing automated harvesting of berry and fruit crops in the field is the accurate determination of the fruits and berries boundaries using computer vision cameras in various climatic conditions. (Research purpose) The research purpose is in studying the conditions of work of the robotic harvesting platform, developing a method of berries picking and justifying the parameters of the robotic platform due to the conditions of work in the area of strawberry cultivation on the conventional technology with the distance between the ridges of 90 centimeters and a plant height of 40 centimeters. (Materials and methods) The article presents a theoretical calculation of the main design and technological indicators of the robotic platform. The article describes the electronic components and assemblies that the robotic platform is made of. Authors analyzed the technological parameters of plantings to justify the effectiveness of the robotic platform. (Results and discussion) The basic dimensions of the robotic platform is: the total weight should not exceed 4 kilograms, the required transport speed is of 2 meters per second, the speed during the technological operation is of 0.3 meters per second, the overcoming slope is at least 20 degrees. The parameters that ensure increased efficiency of the platform when harvesting strawberries is as follow: width is of 320 millimeters; height is of 300 millimeters; length is of 570 millimeters; ground clearance is of 80 mm; coefficient of reserve of traction force without a path slope is of 2.4; power of electric motors is of 16.4 watts; operating time is of 2.2 hours, operating speed ispositional, maximum speed is of 4 meters per second. (Conclusions) Authors have proposed the design of a platform for robotic picking of garden strawberry, which compares favorably with analogues in that it makes it possible to increase the efficiency of picing by using inexpensive components, high mobility and the ability to simultaneously work on the field of several dozen similar platforms. It was found that the low weight and small dimensions allow reducing the mechanical impact on the target object, preserving the appearance and quality characteristics of the strawberry crop.