Professional paper

Apple harvesting machines – current state and outlooks

Denis Stajnko orcid.org/0000-0002-7973-962X ; Fakulteta za kmetijstvo in biosistemske vede

Abstract

Apple hand picking by bags, baskets and ladders is expensive and inefficient. The introduction of the platform makes it easy to harvest from the highest branches and boosts productivity to 100 kg of fruit per hour. Even greater efficiency is achieved by correct thinning and introducing of platform with rubber bands and automatic filling system into standard boks pallet (so called 'pluck-on-track'). However, expensive labour still force producers for seeking new solutions in the form of robots to harvest the fruit. The first experimental robot appeared already in 1998 but for the smooth operation special Y shape growing apple form was necessary which prevented further introduce to practice. Recently, a modern ACRO robot can pick apples in commercial orchards using vacuum gripper and integrated USB camera. Due to the use of one arm robots are still relatively slow, so in the future more independent robotic arms should be integrated in the system to make it more efficient.

Keywords

harvest; platforms; apple picking robot

Hrčak ID:

162607

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/162607

Publication date:

5.11.2014.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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