절단과 파지 기능을 통합한 단일 모터 구동형 고추 수확 그리퍼 메커니즘

Abstract

Agricultural robotics technology has greatly contributed to increasing productivity and reducing labor, with harvest automation being one of the key innovations in the agricultural sector. This study focuses on designing a miniaturized gripper for the efficient harvesting of horn peppers. The proposed gripper grasps the stem of the horn pepper without contacting surrounding crops and simplifies the harvesting process by allowing the stem to be cut through continued actuation after grasping. This minimizes crop damage during harvesting and enables simultaneous grasping and cutting with a single actuator. Additionally, instead of using mechanical components like springs, the gripper integrates EVA foam for a simple structure. Experiments demonstrated that the proposed gripper successfully grasps and cuts the stem of horn peppers. This study introduces a gripper that can contribute to the automation of agricultural harvesting, with potential applicability to a variety of pepper-like crops.