Identification of fruit and branch in natural scenes for citrus harvesting robot using machine vision and support vector machine

With the decrease of agricultural labor and the increase of production cost,the researches on citrus harvesting robot(CHR)have received more and more attention in recent years.For the success of robotic harvesting and the safety of robot,the identification of mature citrus fruit and obstacle is the priority of robotic harvesting.In this work,a machine vision system,which consisted of a color CCD camera and a computer,was developed to achieve these tasks.Images of citrus trees were captured under sunny and cloudy conditions.Due to varying degrees of lightness and position randomness of fruits and branches,red,green,and blue values of objects in these images are changed dramatically.The traditional threshold segmentation is not efficient to solve these problems.Multi-class support vector machine(SVM),which succeeds by morphological operation,was used to simultaneously segment the fruits and branches in this study.The recognition rate of citrus fruit was 92.4%,and the branch of which diameter was more than 5 pixels,could be recognized.The results showed that the algorithm could be used to detect the fruits and branches for CHR.

Selection and experimental evaluation of shaking rods of canopy shaker to reduce tree damage for citrus mechanical harvesting

Canopy shaking system is one of the research hotspots for large-scale mechanized fruits harvesting.Shaking rods considered as one of the essential components of canopy shaker are responsible for transferring mechanical energy from shaking mechanism to different regions of tree canopy.This transfer depends on the characteristics of the shaking rods that directly strike the tree canopy.In order to evaluate the effects of the shaking rods on tree damage level and fruit removal percentage,three kinds of shaking rods with different materials or shapes were selected.Based on the results of bending deformation tests,it was proven that the rigid shaking rod(R_(1))with the material of Polyvinyl Chloride(PVC)did more resistance against producing bending deformation in comparison with the other two types of shaking rods with the material of Polyamide Nylon 12(PA).By contrast,the position close to the free end of the flexible shaking rod was easier to be deformed by less external force.In addition,dynamic analysis and vibration performance tests indicated that the rigid shaking rod could produce stronger vibration with higher shaking frequency of 4.8 Hz and maximum acceleration of 31.4 m/s^(2).Finally,the results of field trials indicated that the flexible bow-shaped shaking rod(R_(3))has a better widespread performance to achieve comparative higher fruit removal percentage up to 82.6%while producing lower tree damage rate of 5.36%.This study demonstrates that the materials or shapes of the shaking rod could significantly influence the fruit detachment rate and tree damage level.This study would provide an essential reference for the application of shaking rods for canopy shaker.

Design and evaluation of a two-section canopy shaker with variable frequency for mechanical harvesting of citrus

Canopy shaking is one of the most commonly used techniques for mechanical harvesting of citrus fruits in orange juice industry.However,tree damage and low harvesting efficiency are the top concerns of growers in adopting the existing harvesting equipment on a large scale.The purpose of this research was to develop a novel canopy shaking system to minimize tree damage and maximize fruit removal for mechanical citrus harvesting.In this study,a two-section canopy shaker composing of top and bottom shaking systems mounted on two rotating drums was proposed and developed.It was configured with two sets of flexible bow-shaped shaking rods in a staggered distribution,which can shake the top and bottom zones of the tree canopy independently.The shaking system was designed based on a linked crank-rocker mechanism.Kinematic simulation analysis was conducted to verify the quick return characteristics and differential properties of this mechanism.Vibration test showed that the frequency of the shaking rod could be adjusted within a range of 1.1-8.8 Hz related to hydraulic motor speeds.The field tests of the shaking system with an average frequency of 4.7 Hz achieved a fruit removal percentage of 82.6%and tree damage rate of 5.4%under a tractor speed of 3 km/h.By contrast,the combined shaking frequency of 4.7 Hz&4.1 Hz of the canopy shaker produced less tree damage with a percentage of 3.9%.This study indicated that the two-section canopy shaker with an optimized frequency combination could be adaptable to the different zones of the tree canopy,and obtain lower tree damage and higher fruit removal percentage.

Effects of maturity of citrus fruits on their stalks cutting force

When the citrus harvesting robot harvests citruses,the mechanical properties of citrus stalks have an important influence on the success rate of the citrus harvesting robot.During the harvesting,the maturity of citrus fruits not only determined the harvesting time of citrus fruits but also affected the mechanical properties of citrus fruit stalks.In this study,the changes in the cutting force of citrus fruit stalks were described during the maturity of citrus fruits,and the effect of the maturity on the cutting force of stalks was clarified,so as to determine the harvesting time with the minimum cutting force required for harvesting citrus fruits by the harvesting robot.During the maturity,the relevant parameters of fruit maturity,such as the hardness,pH,and solid solution content of citrus fruits,were monitored.The results showed that there is a significant correlation between the hardness,pH,the solid solution content of citrus fruits,and the cutting force of citrus fruit stalks during maturity.The single-factor mechanical model of hardness,pH,solid solution content of citrus fruits,and the cutting force of citrus fruit stalks were established based on the data of 2019,which were verified through tests in 2020.The test results are as follows:during the ripening period of citrus fruits,the fruit hardness varies in the range of 0.13-0.31 MPa,the hardness changes by 0.02 MPa,and the cutting force changes by about 2.0-6.0 N;the pH of the citrus fruits changes in the range of 2.8-4.0,and the cutting force changes by about 1.5-2.2 N for every 0.1 change in the pH;the variation range of fruit solid solution content is 6.5%-9.0%,and for every 0.2%change in solid solution,the cutting force of citrus fruit stalks changes by about 1.25-2.0 N.The mechanical models can predict the cutting force required to cut off citrus fruit stalks according to the relevant parameters of citrus fruit maturity and can provide a reference for effectively evaluating the required cutting force.