Grant Information
| Knowledge Area | Subject of Investigation | Field of Science | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 402 - Engineering Systems and Equipment | 999 - Citrus, general/other | 2020 - Engineering | 100% |
Numerous challenges face the Florida and U.S. citrus industries, including global market pressure, urban and environmental pressures, labor issues, and emerging diseases and pests, thus underscoring the need for new production approaches. Over the last decade, over 200,000 acres of Florida citrus production has been lost due to the citrus canker eradication program and citrus greening known as HLB. HLB is now considered endemic in Florida and hundreds of thousands of acres are in step decline, with minimal hope of finding remediation solutions. Long term hope rests on finding HLB resistant varieties, and developing advanced management strategies that can control the psyllid population, repel them from groves, and manage trees in an optimal economic framework. One approach being considered is Advanced Production Systems (APS) that use high density semi-dwarfed trees, and open hydroponics with optimized nutrient and water availability, which accelerates plant growth. When combined with HLB tolerant rootstocks, the concept seeks to increase yield production per acre, while simultaneously shortening the time to return on investment, which means that grove life can be shortened by disease pressure and still remain viable economically. However, this new grove architecture will require new equipment systems to manage production and harvesting. The concept proposed by GeoSpider, Inc. will offer a broad range of production and harvesting implements, such as mass and selective harvesting, spraying, hedging, and mowing.In this Phase I project, we will advance a strategic aspect of selective harvesting which will improve harvestability of fresh market fruit. An integrated hybrid harvesting arm will be developed to selectively remove fruit on the canopy surface or within the canopy interior. We believe that a hybrid arm that takes advantage of the speed, strength and accuracy of an articulated manipulator, coupled with the dexterity improvements of hyper-redundant manipulators will have unique performance characteristics. Scalability must be kept in mind since it is likely that each mobile harvester will carry 4 to 8 harvesting arms, thus multiplying the harvesting throughput, but at the same time increasing the complexity of workspace planning and collision avoidance. Leveraging prior research by the University of Florida PI's, GeoSpider, Inc will further develop a serial link maco-positioning manipulator equipped with a hyper-redundant forearm. Foundational controls will be developed for this Phase I prototype to demonstrate proof of concept in a laboratory setting at the UF citrus harvesting laboratory. Appropriate experimental methods will be implemented to evaluate the hybrid manipulator's performance in terms of; 1) workspace reach, 2) dexterity, 3) harvesting cycle speed, 4) stability, and 5) end point precision.
This proposal focuses on fresh fruit harvesting, where the fruit must be carefully handled to prevent bruising and punctures to the peel. The main objective of our Phase I research tasks is to develop a fresh market citrus harvester composed of a specialized selective harvesting end-effector, unique hyper-redundant harvesting arm, and a vision-based fruit localization and servo control. In our future planned Phase II, we will integrate the Selective Harvesting components with the GroveMasterâ„¢ system platform equipped with a fruit handling system and conduct field trials.In the current proposal, we will be focusing on developing the harvesting arms that will be used to selectively remove fruit on the canopy surface and within the canopy interior We believe that a hybrid arm that takes advantage of the speed, strength and accuracy of an articulated manipulator, coupled with the dexterity improvements of hyper-redundant manipulators will have unique performance characteristics. The following development tasks will be explored.Revise design and fabricate forearm mechanical skeleton with integrated fluid powerDesign and fabricate the forearm stabilizing spring/damper assembliesIntegrate the mechanical/power/sensor components with the controllerIntegrate with the hydraulically actuated macro positioning manipulatorImplement the control and instrumentation scheme to be used during testingPerformance testing and analysisProduct evaluation, and revise commercialization plan.
This proposal focuses on fresh fruit harvesting, where the fruit must be carefully handled to prevent bruising and punctures to the peel. The main objective of our Phase I research tasks is to develop a fresh market citrus harvester composed of a specialized selective harvesting end-effector, unique hyper-redundant harvesting arm, and a vision-based fruit localization and servo control. In our future planned Phase II, we will integrate the Selective Harvesting components with the GroveMaster™ system platform equipped with a fruit handling system and conduct field trials.
In the current proposal, we will be focusing on developing the harvesting arms that will be used to selectively remove fruit on the canopy surface and within the canopy interior We believe that a hybrid arm that takes advantage of the speed, strength and accuracy of an articulated manipulator, coupled with the dexterity improvements of hyper-redundant manipulators will have unique performance characteristics. The following development tasks will be explored.Target Audience
The target audience is the Florida Citrus Industry. We continue to reachout and contact Florida citrus growers to discuss our technology development efforts and progress, as well as seek support for supplemental funding.
Changes / Problems
Nothing Reported
Training & Professional Development
This project has supported the work of an MS student's thesis, and allowed a Post Doctorate to develop advanced design, analysis and experimentation skills.
Dissemination Streams
Publications have been presented at international conferences and submitted and published in referred journals.
Next Reporting Steps
Nothing Reported
Target Audience
The target audience is the Florida Citrus Industry. We continue to reachout and contact Florida citrus growers to discuss our technology development efforts and progress, as well as seek support for supplemental funding.
Changes / Problems
Nothing Reported
Training & Professional Development
We have employed a recent Masters graduate as a part time design engineer and he is working on design optimization. He hopes to later pursue a PhD working on advanced control topics for the future development of the functional commercial prototype.
Dissemination Streams
Nothing Reported
Next Reporting Steps
We plan to finish design optimization within the next month and then begin fabricating the Phase I prototype. From there laboratory experiments will be conducted to validate the performance of the new concept citrus harvesting manipulator. This will form the basis for a Phase II proposal along with ourother research efforts. <br><br>
<br>What was accomplished under these goals? We are still early in development, but the progress made in modeling concept harvesting arms will help us optimize the arm design. We have developed a Solidworks model of the new concept, and will hopefully generate fabrication drawings with in the next couple months. From there we will build the prototype and conduct feasibility testing. <br><br><b>Publications</b><br>