SYSTEMS-ENGINEERING OF AGRICULTURAL ROBOT DESIGN

The design of an agricultural robot is a complex task since in additio n to the many closely related design parameters that must be determine d, the design is highly affected by crop parameters which are uncertai n and loosely structured. This paper presents a systems engineering me thod to evaluate the performance of an agricultural robot by simulatin g and comparing different types of robots, number of arms, multiple ar m configurations, workspace design and dynamic characteristics. Numeri cal simulation tools were developed to quantify measures of machine pe rformance such as cycle time and percentage of successful cycles based on an extensive statistical analysis using measured fruit locations a nd simulated crop parameters. The methodology developed was applied to determine design parameters for a robotic melon harvester. Simulation results indicated that the cartesian robot was faster than the cylind rical robot for the melon harvesting task. Activating two arms in tand em was the fastest configuration evaluated. Simulation provided an imp ortant tool for evaluating the multitude of design and crop parameters and for comparing alternatives in a timely manner prior to prototype construction. Through systems engineering design parameters and prefer able crop conditions. were recommended based on which a prototype robo tic melon harvester has been constructed.