Japan's National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Ritsumeikan University, and DENSO Corp., an auto parts manufacturer. has developed a prototype of a harvesting robot that can pick fruit from a tree in the same amount of time as humans.
The fruit tree industry in Japan is in danger of declining worker numbers and aging of existing workers. With this existing danger, it is predicted that in the near future, Japan will face difficulties in terms of employment in the orchards.
For these upcoming challenges, NARO, Ritsumeikan University and DENSO Corp. continue R&D studies for the most suitable tree shapes required for labor-saving automated cultivation systems, agricultural robots and automated operations in orchards.
In the project, Ritsumeikan University developed software for detecting ripening fruits and their position using sensors, while DENSO Corp. developed the hardware of its robot.
Two robotic arms picking fruit
As a result of the R&D studies, the prototype of the robot that will automatically collect the apples and pears in the V-shaped trees has been developed.
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The prototype moves between trees with unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) navigation and picks fruits with its two robot arms. The collected fruits are collected in the automatic fruit storage system set in the navigation.
Fruit picking time 11 seconds
During the harvest, the filled container in the fruit storage system is replaced with an empty container without interrupting the harvest. According to NARO, the prototype can pick up 1 fruit in about 11 seconds, at the same speed as a human.
Optimal tree shapes and planting techniques
The project team develops optimum tree shapes and planting techniques for automated operations on nine different types of fruit trees, such as citrus and apple. For example, dense planting techniques of V-shaped trees and trees of other shapes.