Design And Research Of A Multi-Use End-Effector For Harvesting Robot

Designing of the end-effctor usually be considered one of the core technology of harvesting robot because of the fragile texture, the complex shapes and the growth environment of fruits and vegetables. The study about this field each country has over 20 years, such as Japan, U.S.A., Holand and China ect, where the end-effector for harvesting tomato, strawberry, eggplant, watermelon, citrus, mushroom, cucumber and apple has been manufactured early or late, and gets a good result in the preliminary applications. But make a general survey of all kinds of end-effectors have indicated that one kind of end-effector can only be used for one kind of fruit or vegetable. In fact, the fruits and vegetables are mixed planting, which is a waste of time,energy and cost. But excessive use of high-precision instrument will lead to high manufacturing costs and against popularization of the products.It is not only make the mechanism of end-effector bloated, the huge weight of itself will reduce significantly the weight that can be harvestd greatly but also lead control program complicated because that the power sources need to coordinate multiple operating power equipment.According to the research situation at home and abroad, combining with the actual condition of fruit cultivation, this paper puts forward the narrative end-effector for harvesting robot. The work need to be done in the whole development process as follow:l.The integral function design of end-effector.3D simulation and structural optimization with SolidWorks. Determining the ultimate scheme and processing product prototype.2. Developing an experimental platform based on the hardware control system which is maken up of A PC, PCI-1240U movement control card, PCI-1710 data collecting card and force sensor.The experimental results showed that the prototype's grab, wring and reset functions realized in good condition and the design successful.3. The software control system used the powerful and vivid language graphical of Lab VIEW and used the fuzzy control algorithm. Designing of PID fuzzy controller with the fuzzy logic LabVIEW software toolkits, and making the collected force approach unlimitedly the set value so as to realize the control of tearout. The experimental results showed that this system is very good to complete the data collection, the dynamic display of the force, display alarming and the system automatically circulating preset functions.Introduction of electromagnetic clutch in mechanical design is the biggest innovation, which not only realized action request but also simplify the design of the complex mechanical structure under the condition of a single power. As a result, the end-effector lighter, smaller, saving space and the motion more flexible.