Development of the concept of a mobile robotic platform for handling insect-breeding trays

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Tottem Nutrition (TN) focuses on the development of farms breeding edible insects, Acheta domesticus**(cricket), and Tenebrio molitor (mealworm). TN is setting up its own farm with the goal of building a fully**automated, efficient insect-breeding facility, with high throughput and high product quality, which calls for**minimum human intervention. The main means of automation of the insect-breeding farm is a robotic mobile**platform with an industrial robot on top for: gentle manipulation of trays with delicate objects (insect larvae),**which should not be subjected to shock and vibration; loading and unloading, transporting and discharging the**trays to the sifting/sorting equipment; and their downloading onto the designated locations. The key component**of the farm is the mobile platform. While we envision designing this system with as many off-the-shelf**components as possible, an in-depth motion analysis is required to optimally select the three main subsystems:**the mobile platform; the lifting mechanism; and the manipulator. The platform will most likely be selected as**an omnidirectional mobile robot. By means of Mekanum wheels, the platform can be designed with three**degrees of freedom: translation in two horizontal directions and rotation about one vertical axis. The purpose is**to allow the platform to freely operate in a reduced environment, the insect-raising room, where space is to be**used to allow for as many trays of insects as possible. As to the industrial manipulator, an option would be a**SCARA system, with three translations and one rotation for the tray manipulation. One more subsystem will be**required to move the robot vertically to a given height of a tray whose location can range between 0 and 2.2 m**in height.