NRI: INT: COLLAB: Distributed co-Robots for Strawberry Harvesting

最近，由于劳动力短缺和劳动力成本的不断增加，特别是收获，美国的草莓产量正在下降。与劳动力成本低得多的国家相比，生产成本高可能会使美国的草莓种植者处于不利地位。为了使美国的草莓生产在世界其他地区具有竞争力，需要降低生产成本。该项目旨在研究开发一种可供种植者使用的小型、坚固且具有成本效益的协作机器人系统，这将最终降低草莓生产的收获成本并提高利润率。此外，研究结果可以使其他高价值的特种作物受益，如西红柿和蓝莓，因为它们正面临类似的劳动力短缺问题。这项多学科研究将丰富课程，使三所参与大学的大量学生受益，并将为代表性不足和少数民族背景的学生提供研究和发展经验。该项目的外展部分将通过会议，研讨会，实地考察日和其他学习参与活动教育K-12学生和公众关于农业机器人的知识。 此外，还将开发一个图形用户界面，该界面可作为一种辅助设备，使残疾用户受益。第一个推力将研究一个分散的，可扩展的行分配算法的机器人，以实现共识的行收获，以实现整体最小的时间收获。该算法被期望是可扩展的，高效的，快速的，非冲突的，和简单的。第二个重点将开发一个集成的多曝光融合，曲率分析和分层图像处理算法。在端到端深度学习技术的支持下，该算法将以高精度检测田间环境中的草莓、茎和藤。第三个研究重点涉及一个平行三角形机器人臂为基础的采摘和运输收获的水果操作系统的研究。相关的移动量将最小化。这三个重点将通过许多其他工程任务和详细的成本分析来补充。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Recently, strawberry production in the United States is decreasing due to labor shortages and the ever-increasing cost of labor, particularly for harvesting. A high cost of production could put strawberry-growers in the U.S. at a disadvantage in comparison to countries whose cost of labor is much less. In order to make strawberry production in the U.S. competitive with the rest of the world, production costs need to be reduced. This project aims to investigate developing a small, rugged, and cost-effective co-robot system that can be used by growers, which will ultimately lower the harvesting costs and increase profitability of strawberry production. Additionally, the research results can benefit other high value specialty crops, such as tomatoes and blueberries, as they are facing similar labor shortage issues. This multi-disciplinary research will enrich course curricula which benefits a large number of students at three participating universities, and will provide research and development experiences to students of underrepresented and minority backgrounds. The outreach component of the project will educate K-12 students and the general public about robotics in agriculture via conferences, workshops, field days, and other learning engagement activities. Additionally, a graphic user interface will be developed, which is adaptable as an assistive device to benefit users with disabilities.The project includes three primary research thrusts. The first thrust will investigate a decentralized, scalable row allocation algorithm for robots to achieve a consensus about which rows to harvest, in order to achieve an overall minimum time in harvesting. The algorithm is expected to be scalable, efficient, fast, non-conflicting, and simple. The second thrust will develop an integrated multi-exposure fusion, curvature analysis and hierarchical image processing algorithm. Supported by the end-to-end deep learning technique, the algorithm will detect strawberries, stems, and vines in field environments with a high accuracy. The third research thrust involves a study of a parallel delta robot-arm based manipulation system for picking and transporting harvested fruits. The associated amount of movements will be minimized. These three thrusts will be complemented by many other engineering tasks and a detailed cost analysis.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.