SBIR Phase I: Orchestration of Multiple Robotic Subsystems into a Commercially Viable Robotic Strawberry Harvesting System

该项目的广泛影响/商业潜力将解决在美国使用自动化收割草莓的能力，在美国，移民劳动力稀缺，工作不受欢迎。该项目借鉴了许多其他大批量制造/生产行业中使用和改进的技术和方法，并将适用的想法应用于自动化机器收获粮食作物。大数据方法也正在与采集技术一起开发，这些技术将为作物种植提供有关未来产量的预测信息，并帮助监测与病虫害有关的植物健康状况。正在开发的商业模式通过向农民提供预期的机器作为一种服务来代替他们的劳动力，从而不要求农民有大量的资本支出，从而帮助农业社区采用这项技术。因此，启动这项服务对农民来说将是一个容易做出的决定，并将有助于为未来的收获模式和技术建立标准。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目正在开发技术和想法，以便能够完成一些最劳动密集型和最脆弱的水果的机器人收获。特殊的机器视觉技术被用来同时检测、破译和定位水果，速度有利于商业收获。此外，独特的机器技术，将使收获水果没有挫伤。目标包括实验的想法，将导致更一致的水果包装和技术，以增加采摘后的水果保质期。在这些领域，大多数先前的研究都集中在用机器采摘水果上，而不是以商业速度进行采摘的能力。收获CROO系统的全部目的是快速获取植物下的果实，然后能够包装并将其带出田地。在此之前，许多项目都没有将果实从田地中移除的分配。Harvest CROO系统将为此建立标准。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will address the ability to use automation to harvest strawberries in the United States in an environment where migrant labor is scarce and the work is undesirable. The project is borrowing techniques and methods that have been used and refined in many other high volume manufacturing/production industries and applying the applicable ideas to harvesting food crops with automated machines. Big data methods are also being developed in conjunction with the acquisition techniques that will assist crop growing with predictive information about future yields and help with monitoring plant health in relation to disease and pest infestation. The business model being developed helps the adoption of the technology into the farming community by not requiring the farmers to have large capital outlays by providing the anticipated machines to the farmers as a service to replace their labor. The initiation of the service will therefore be an easy decision for a farmer to make and will be helpful in establishing the standard for future harvesting models and techniques.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is developing techniques and ideas to be able to accomplish the robotic harvesting of some of the most labor intensive and delicate fruit. Special machine vision techniques are being utilized to be able to simultaneously detect, decipher and target the fruit at a speeds conducive to commercial harvesting. Also, unique machine techniques that will enable the harvesting of the fruit without bruising. Objectives include experimenting with ideas that will lead to more consistent fruit packing and techniques to increase fruit shelf life after picking. Most prior research in these areas focused on being able to pick the fruit with machines and not so much on the ability to do it at commercial speeds. The entire purpose of the systems of the Harvest CROO is to rapidly acquire the fruit under the plants and then be able to pack and carry it out of the fields. Many of the projects until this point had no allotment for removing the fruit from the fields. The Harvest CROO system will establish standards for this.