Automatic Harvesting System Research Articles

On the rise: Development of a multi-tiered, indoor duckweed cultivation system.

Duckweed species (Lemnaceae) are suitable for remediation and valorization of agri-feed industry wastewaters and therefore can contribute to a more sustainable, circular economy where waste is a resource. Industrial applications will, however, require space efficient cultivation methods that are not affected by prevailing weather conditions. Here, the development and operation of a multi-tiered duckweed bioreactor is described. The developed prototype bioreactor depicted in this paper is composed of four cultivation layers (1m2 each) with integrated LED lighting (generating up to 150 μmol m-2 s-1 ), a system of pumps and valves to manage the recirculatory flow (2.5Lmin-1 ) of wastewater, and an automatic harvesting system. Using a nutrient poor medium, good growth of the duckweed species Lemna minor was achieved in the bioreactor, and this was matched by strong nutrient depletion from the medium, especially for phosphorus (45-mg total phosphorus [TP] removed per m-2 day-1 ). A fully automatic harvesting arm reliably captured similar amounts of duckweed biomass across multiple harvesting cycles, revealing a future scenario whereby labor and interventions by human operators are minimized. Further developments to advance the system towards fully automated operation will include, for example, the use of specific nutrient sensors to monitor and control medium composition. It is envisaged that multi-tiered, indoor bioreactors can be employed in the agri-feed industry where wastewaters are, in many cases, continuously generated throughout the year and need remediating immediately to avoid costly storage. Given the extensive use of automation technology in conventional wastewater treatment plants, multi-tiered duckweed bioreactors can be realistically integrated within the operating environment of such treatment plants. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Duckweed is suitable for remediation and valorization of agri-feed wastewater. Industrial duckweed applications require space efficient cultivation methods. Development and operation of a multi-tiered duckweed bioreactor is detailed. Flow dynamics and automatic harvesting in the bioreactor are optimized. It is concluded that a multi-tiered bioreactor can be used in industry.

Development of smart algae pond system for microalgae biomass production

The production of microalgae biomass is very promising as an alternative sustainable food, feed, high value biochemical, and 3rd generation biofuel. However, the use of microalgae biomass for the production of biofuel is still considered less feasible at this time. The main obstacle is the scale up of biomass production, high processing costs and low efficiency using the conventional biomass production system. Therefore, the use of advanced digital technology such as sensors, automation applications and the Internet of Things (IoT) was applied in this study. This research aimed to develop a Smart Algae Pond system equipped with three main functions of smart mixing, control of pH and CO2 supply, and the automatic harvesting system. The results revealed that the use of advanced digital technology and IoT could improve the productivity as well as control the production of biomass effectively and efficiently. The tested optimum value of pH was achieved at 8.5-9.5 with the CO2 concentration of 1 to 2% of the cultivation volume. Temperature was maintained from 25 to 35 °C, water velocity from 16 to 35 cm s−1, and air velocity of 8.33 cm3 s−1. Using the smart mixing system, the use of electrical energy was decreased from 0.5 to below 0.2 Kw/h. This study showed that microalgae biomass production can be measured using a water turbidity sensor.

Automatic detection of oil palm fruits from UAV images using an improved YOLO model

Manual harvesting of loose fruits in the oil palm plantation is both time consuming and physically laborious. Automatic harvesting system is an alternative solution for precision agriculture which requires accurate visual information of the targets. Current state-of-the-art one-stage object detection method provides excellent detection accuracy; however, it is computationally intensive and impractical for embedded system. This paper proposed an improved YOLO model to detect oil palm loose fruits from unmanned aerial vehicle images. In order to improve the robustness of the detection system, the images are augmented by brightness, rotation, and blurring to simulate the actual natural environment. The proposed improved YOLO model adopted several improvements; densely connected neural network for better feature reuse, swish activation function, multi-layer detection to enhance detection on small targets and prior box optimization to obtain accurate bounding box information. The experimental results show that the proposed model achieves outstanding average precision of 99.76% with detection time of 34.06 ms. In addition, the proposed model is also light in weight size and requires less training time which is significant in reducing the hardware costs. The results exhibit the superiority of the proposed improved YOLO model over several existing state-of-the-art detection models.

Quantitative Outcome Assessment of Color Match and the Extent of Repigmentation after Pixel Array Epidermal Grafting for Head and Neck Stable Vitiligo: A Prospective Cohort Study

Background: Epidermal grafting with an automatic harvesting system has been reported as a simple and efficacious procedure for stable vitiligo. However, no prospective cohort study has quantitatively evaluated the color matching and extent of repigmentation in the head and neck area by this method. Objective: To evaluate the color matching and extent of repigmentation after pixel array epidermal grafting by image analysis software and physicians’ naked eye. Methods: Ten Asian patients with head and neck vitiligo lesions stable for at least 6 months were treated with pixel array epidermal grafting with an automatic harvesting system and post-grafting phototherapy. The patients were evaluated 1, 3, and 6 months post grafting for the percentage of repigmentation by blinded physicians’ assessment and image analysis software. The color matching index of repigmentation was evaluated by measuring the melanin index in the grafted area and the juxta non-vitiliginous area. Results: The average blister harvest time was 46.3 ± 9.7 min. The area percentile of repigmentation by the image analysis software were 32.3 ± 26.8, 64.6 ± 29.4, and 76.5 ± 25.9 at 1, 3, and 6 months post grafting, respectively. There were no significant differences between the physicians’ assessments and the results from the image analysis software. The change in the area percentile of repigmentation between 3 and 6 months post grafting was only statistically significant using image analysis software. The grafted area achieved a color match of 83.1 ± 13.4% that of the juxta non-vitiliginous area 6 months after grafting. Three patients had repigmentation of leukotrichia. Conclusion: By quantitative measurement, uniform pixel array micrografts provide a very good extent of repigmentation and color match in the head and neck area. Image analysis software revealed a steady increase in repigmentation after POM3 until POM6, which was not detected by subjective assessment.

Inclined algal biofilm photobioreactor (IABPBR) for cost-effective cultivation of lipid-rich microalgae and treatment of seawater-diluted anaerobically digested effluent from kitchen waste with the aid of phytohormones

Previous study has demonstrated that freshwater can be replaced with seawater for dilution of feed to algal production and wastewater treatment, but high harvest cost in suspended-growth systems is still a troublesome limitation for large-scale production. Therefore, a novel inclined algal biofilm photobioreactor (IABPBR) was constructed for algal bioproduct production and treatment of seawater-diluted anaerobically digested effluent (SA) in this study. Fluffy polyester was selected as the best carrier for the algal biofilm among ten discarded materials. With the help of phytohormones, the viability of SDEC-18 was clearly enhanced and an algal biomass productivity of 5.66 g/m2/d was achieved. The SDEC-18 biofilm provided removal capacities of 0.65, 0.25 and 3.31 g/m2/d for TN, TP and COD. Phytohormones clearly enhanced the lipid biosynthesis, with an extraordinary lipid productivity of 3.98 g/m2/d being achieved. Moreover, an automatic harvesting system was designed for the efficient harvesting process during large-scale production.

548 ハウス園芸における自動収穫ロボット用車両の開発

This paper describes a new type of a vehicle mechanism using in greenhouse. The feature of this vehicle mechanism is that normal tires use for front wheels and rotary crawler system for rear driving mechanism. As the passage in greenhouses is very narrow and bad to move, turning and passing performance is important. More over, the vehicle is developed as a part of automatic harvesting system in greenhouse, so simple turning operation and robust passing ability are required. In this paper, mechanism of the proposed vehicle, strategy of turning, comparison with other type vehicle is explained.

葉菜類用自動収穫装置の開発

An automatic harvesting system for leaf vegetables was developed and its performance was tested in a plant growing factory. In order to apply to the trough-type hydroponics, the system consisted of a trough joint, a guideway for the carring-strip, the slice cutter, belt conveyors, a winder of the carring-strip, and so on. The harvesting method was following;1. The carring-strip which was planted vegetables is moved by the winder.2. The carring-strip and vegetables are inclined by the guideway.3. Roots of vegetables are cut off with planting-pots by the slice cutter.4. Therefore, harvestries fall and are carried by belt conveyors.This system could harvest 1800 planting-pot·hr-1. The result of practical test suggest that the efficiency of the system was 3-5 times as fast as harvesting speed by human labor.

Automatic Feeding and Harvesting of Juvenile Atlantic Cod (Gadus Morhua L.) in a Pond

Large scale production of juvenile Atlantic cod has been carried out since 1980 in a saltwater pond. A break-through was obtained in 1983 with high survival rates of cod larvae to metamorphosis, in 1985 we made progress within two fields: reduced cannibalism and automatic harvesting. Juvenile cod formed large schools while fed dry pellets in the currents set up by five propellers. An underwater loudspeaker was programmed to give sound pulses just before feeding. During harvesting dry pellets were released inside a fish trap while giving the sound signals the cod juveniles were conditioned to. The cod readily entered the trap and a computer-controlled fish pump transported the fish from the fish trap into a storing tank and grading grids. The trap gradually emptied the pond for fish and more than 80% or 100.000 juvenile cods were captured with the automatic harvesting system.

Automatic feeding and Harvesting of Juvenile Atlantic Cod (Gadus Morhua L.) in a Pond

Abstract Large scale production of juvenile Atlantic cod has been carried out since 1980 in a saltwater pond. A break-through was obtained in 1983 with high survival rates of cod larvae to metamorphosis, in 1985 we made progress within two fields: reduced cannibalism and automatic harvesting. Juvenile cod formed large schools while fed dry pellets in the currents set up by five propellers. An underwater loudspeaker was programmed to give sound pulses just before feeding. During harvesting dry pellets were released inside a fish trap while giving the sound signals the cod juveniles were conditioned to. The cod readily entered the trap and a computer-controlled fish pump transported the fish from the fish trap into a storing tank and grading grids. The trap gradually emptied the pond for fish and more than 80% or 100.000 juvenile cods were captured with the automatic harvesting system.