Mobile robot system for selective asparagus harvesting

Šlajpah, Sebastjan (author), Munih, Marko (author), Mihelj, Matjaž (author)

Asparagus harvesting presents unique challenges, due to the variability in spear growth, which makes large-scale automated harvesting difficult. This paper describes the development of an asparagus harvesting robot system. The system consists of a delta robot mounted on a mobile track-based platform. It employs a real-time asparagus detection algorithm and a sensory system to determine optimal harvesting points. Low-level control and high-level control are separated in the robot control. The performance of the system was evaluated in a laboratory field mock-up and in the open field, using asparagus spears of various shapes. The results demonstrate that the system detected and harvested 88% of the ready-to-harvest spears, with an average harvesting cycle cost of 3.44 s ± 0.14 s. In addition, outdoor testing in an open field demonstrated a 77% success rate in identifying and harvesting asparagus spears.

• Language: English
• Keywords: asparagus, delta robot, mobile platform, harvest, detection, point cloud segmentation
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FE - Faculty of Electrical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 1-17
• Numbering: Vol. 13, iss. 7. [article no.] 1766
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-148226
• UDC: 007.52:635.31
• ISSN on article: 2073-4395
• DOI: 10.3390/agronomy13071766
• COBISS.SI-ID: 157333763
• Publication date in RUL: 03.08.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Agronomy
• Shortened title: Agronomy
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2073-4395
• COBISS.SI-ID: 522953241

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: šparglji, delta robot, mobilna platforma, pobiranje, detekcija, segmentacija oblaka točk

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P2-0228
• Name: Analiza in sinteza gibanja pri človeku in stroju