ROBOTIC STRAWBERRY HARVESTING: DESIGN, CAM, AND AUTOMATION

Abstract

This paper presents a project proposal of designing and developing a robotic/automated strawberry picking system, which will operate on a 6-DOF robotic arm fitted with a special designed gripper and cutting tool to pick the strawberries which then must be planned with a CAD/CAM process. The major focus of it is to improve the production of the process of harvesting, reduce the workforce reliance, and augment the productivity of manufacturing. The CAD system is created and CAM simulations are undertaken to optimize the system in order to have precision, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness.

The performance of the robotic system is measured using the key quantitative indicators. The findings show that picking success rate of 92 was high and this means that strawberries are detected and harvested accurately. It will be 3.5 seconds per fruit and this time cycle will enable the system to pick approximately 17 fruits per minute and this is incredibly advantageous in regard to productivity compared to the use of hands. Even the percentage of lost fruit is very low and is at 4 percent which means that the gripper design is appropriate to the fine produce.

On manufacturing, the CAM-process planning results in 40 per cent reduction of the lead time and a 20 per cent of cost of production, that is, the efficiency of the integrated digital manufacturing approaches. The system can also accommodate various sizes of fruits and may achieve the success rate of 90-94.

Generally, the findings indicate that the robot harvesting systems can enhance operational efficiencies and product quality level and reduce the cost of production. The study is an addition to the future of agricultural automation since it presents a workable and practical solution to the modern farming problems.