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DETERMINING THE 3-D LOCATION OF THE APPLE FRUIT DURING HARVEST

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Automation Technology for Off-Road Equipment,Proceedings of the 7-8 October 2004 Conference (Kyoto, Japan)Publication Date 7 October 2004  701P1004.(doi:10.13031/2013.17822)
Authors:   D.M. Bulanon, T. Kataoka, H. Okamoto, S. Hata
Keywords:   Apple, Harvesting, Image Processing, Machine Vision, Sensor Fusion

The objective of this research is to develop an apple harvesting robot. One of the engineering challenges is the real-time determination of the 3-D location of the fruit. In this paper, the development of a sensor to determine the 3-D location of Fuji apples is discussed. Two methods were considered in determining the 3-D location of the fruit: machine vision system and laser ranging system. Both of these systems would be mounted on the end effector. The machine vision system consisted of the color CCD video camera and the PC for the image processing. The distance from end effector to fruit can be determined using machine vision only, the differential object size method and the binocular stereo image method. However, the laser ranging system was considered because distance measurement using machine vision only is computationally expensive and time consuming. In the laser ranging system, this system needs the aid of the machine vision system to locate the two-dimensional location of the fruit. Then the laser ranging system determines the distance from the end effector to the fruit. The result obtained from this measurement system will be used as input to guide the motion of the manipulator.

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