Authors

Abstract

To address the challenges of high labor intensity and expensive manpower in morel harvesting, a specialized morel picking machine was designed. It is capable of performing the tasks of grasping, cutting, and collecting morels. A three-degree-of-freedom robotic arm was incorporated to ensure precise positioning of the picking claw. The kinematic model of this arm was established to determine the operational radius for effective picking. A three-finger picking claw was developed, with the synchronous opening and closing of the three fingers through a wire-pulling mechanism and a four-bar linkage. Buffer elastic material was installed on the picking fingers, and cutting blades were placed at the fingertips. Simulation analyses were conducted to study the movement of the robotic arm’s end, the forces acted on the picking arm, the hinge between the upper and lower arms, and the hinge at the lower arm’s end, as well as the velocity of the picking claw’s end. Single-factor experiments were employed to investigate the effects of the blade length of the picking finger on the picking success rate, the damage rate of mature morels, and the damage rate of immature morels. The results demonstrated that with a blade length set at 15mm, the picking success rate reached 96.2%, while the damage rates of mature and immature morels were 8.6% and 6.8%, respectively. These findings indicate that the machine can effectively meet the operational requirements for morel picking.

Abstract in Chinese

为解决羊肚菌采摘劳动强度大、人工成本高的问题，设计了一种羊肚菌采摘机，可以完成抓取、切断、收集作业。采用三自由度机械臂实现采摘爪的精确定位，建立了机械臂的运动学模型，确定了采摘作业半径。设计了三指结构采摘爪，通过拉线驱动与四杆机构实现三指同时闭合和松开。采摘手指上安装缓冲弹性材料，末端装有切割刀片。对机械臂末端运动、机械臂受力、大臂与小臂铰链处作用力、小臂末端铰链处作用力、采摘爪末端速度进行了仿真分析。通过单因素试验，研究了采摘手指刀片长度对采摘成功率、羊肚菌损伤率、未成熟羊肚菌损伤率的影响。结果表明，当刀片长度为15mm时，采摘成功率为96.2%，采摘损伤率为8.6%，未成熟羊肚菌损伤率为6.8%，基本满足羊肚菌采摘的作业要求。