Authors

Abstract

Currently kiwifruit picking process mainly leverages manual labour, which has low productivity and high human effort, meanwhile the existing kiwifruit picking machinery also has low picking efficiency and easily damages fruits. In this regard, a multi-fruit envelope-cutting kiwifruit picking end-effector was designed by applying TRIZ assistance in this paper. First, a common kiwifruit picking end-effector was selected as a prototype, the functional analysis method of TRIZ was applied to discover the functional defects of the prototype, after which TRIZ solution tools such as technical contradiction analysis, substance-field analysis, and trimming were applied to improve and innovate, a kiwifruit picking end-effector for automatically recognizing fruits-enveloping fruit clusters-cutting and separating fruit stalks was designed to pick kiwifruit in clusters. Then, ADAMS was applied to perform gait simulation of the end-effector picking action to verify the smoothness and coherence of the picking process. Finally, a kiwifruit picking test stand was set up to conduct picking tests in the form of fruit clusters. The results showed that the average time to pick each cluster of fruit was 8.8s, the picking success rate was 89.3%, and the picking damage rate was 6.0%. All the indicators were better than the prototype and met the expected design requirements.

Abstract in Chinese

目前，在猕猴桃收获过程中多采用人工采摘作业，生产率低、劳动强度大，而现有的猕猴桃采摘机械也存在采摘效率低、易损伤果实等问题。对此，本文应用TRIZ理论辅助设计了一种多果包络切割式的猕猴桃采摘末端执行器。首先，选取一种常见的猕猴桃采摘末端执行器为原型系统，应用TRIZ的功能分析方法识别其存在的功能缺陷，并应用技术矛盾分析、物场分析、裁剪等TRIZ解题工具进行改进创新，设计了一种自动识别果实-包络果实簇-切割分离果梗的猕猴桃采摘末端执行器，可对猕猴桃成簇采摘。然后，应用ADAMS对末端执行器的采摘动作进行步态仿真，验证采摘过程的平稳连贯性。最后，搭建猕猴桃采摘试验台，以果实簇的形式进行采摘试验。结果表明，该末端执行器采摘每簇果实平均用时为8.8s，采摘成功率为89.3%，采摘损伤率为6.0%，各项指标均优于原型系统，符合预期设计要求。