Virtual Model of Grip-and-Cut Picking for Simulation of Vibration and Falling of Grape Clusters

Current robotic prototypes mainly harvest fruit clusters by gripping and cutting the main rachis. However, severe cluster vibration and fruit falling may occur during speedy harvesting. Determining the characteristics of this vibration and falling is important to achieve optimal control in robotic harvesting. Therefore, a virtual grip-and-cut model of cluster picking was developed, and corresponding cluster vibration and fruit falling simulations were performed for robotic harvesting. Multi-property finite element modeling of the main rachis was based on measurements of the rachis compression, shearing, and bending properties. A simulation model of cluster vibration was then built and combined with an end-effector model to obtain a virtual model of grip-and-cut cluster picking. The 3D vibration simulation model of a fruit cluster coupled with the grip-and-cut end-effector model effectively characterized the complex vibration in multilevel and multicomponent fruit clusters with individual diversity of the components’ properties. With the virtual model for cluster picking, dynamic interactive simulation can be realized of the fruit cluster and the grip-and-cut end-effector. Experiments verified that the average deviation of the average swing angle and fruit falling ratio were 6.09% and 8.71%, respectively. Furthermore, the finger-rachis deviation and grip-and-cut speed had a significant influence on the swing angle and fruit falling ratio. The 3D vibration simulation model of a fruit cluster and the virtual model of cluster picking are useful tools for virtual analysis and design of robotic harvesters. Keywords: Falling, Fruit cluster, Harvesting, Robot, Simulation, Vibration.