Design, fabrication and evaluation of a picking mechanism for fruit harvesting

Abstract

In this paper, a picking mechanism for fruit harvesting was designed and results of field experiments are reported. A prototype model was designed for both efficiency and cost effectiveness. Experimental results showed the proposed mechanism yielded a good accuracy; where a total of 210 fruits are used for evaluating the device, 200 of them were grasped and 9% damaged. The experimental picking system demonstrated potential for using robots in harvesting of fruits with satisfactory quality.