Robot-Assisted Autonomous Harvesting of Berries

当今世界面临的一个令人震惊的问题是粮食生产不足以养活快速增长的人口，预计2050年人口将达到97亿。根据加拿大统计局的数据，2020年加拿大第二大水果作物是蔓越莓，产量为162，243公吨，占水果总产量的18.1%。蓝莓（148,444公吨，16.5%）和草莓（24,158公吨，2.8%）分别排在第二和第四位。提高农业生产力和实现未来粮食安全的解决方案在于应用农业技术和农业机器人技术，通过工业4.0和智能自动化提供更高效、更可靠的流程。劳动力短缺是导致收成损失的主要因素之一。这个项目通过提出一个采摘乌藨子和黑莓的机器人系统来解决这一挑战。它由两个新颖的部分组成：一个智能人工视觉系统和一个采用可持续轻质/柔软材料设计的新型抓取器。农业领域的人工智能和机器人系统通过自动化和增强各种农业任务，已开始在全球范围内广泛流行。通过利用先进的智能计算机视觉算法和机器人技术，增加农业中智能技术的部署，使这项业务多样化，成为一个更可持续和有效的自动化部门。应对这一挑战的研究合作伙伴是Cininvestav-Guadalajara的自动控制部门，阿尔伯塔大学的智能制造，设计和自动化实验室，以及ETH苏黎世的自主系统实验室。

An alarming issue the world faces today is inadequate food production to feed the rapid population growth, which is expected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050. According to Statistics Canada, the second-most significant fruit crop in Canada in 2020 was cranberries, accounting for 162,243 metric tons, or 18.1%, of the total fruit harvest. Blueberries (148,444 metric tons, 16.5%) and strawberries (24,158 metric tons, 2.8%) come in second and fourth, respectively. The solution to boosting agricultural productivity and generating future food security lies in applying agri-tech and agri-robotics, providing more efficient and reliable processes through Industry 4.0 and smart automation. The labor shortage is one of the main factors that lead to harvest losses. This project addresses that challenge by proposing a robotic system for picking raspberries and blackberries. It consists of two novel parts: an intelligent artificial vision system and a novel gripper designed with sustainable lightweight/soft materials for picking. Artificial intelligence and robotic systems for the agriculture sector have started gaining widespread popularity globally by automating and augmenting various farming tasks. Increasing the deployment of smart technologies in agriculture by utilizing advanced intelligent computer vision algorithms and robotics lets diversify this business into a more sustainable and effective automated sector. The research partners for addressing this challenge are the Automatic Control department at Cinvestav-Guadalajara, the Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing, Design and Automation at the University of Alberta, and the Autonomous Systems Lab at ETH Zurich.