Medical Robots Coming To The Farm

2023 - Volume #47, Issue #5, Page #05

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Robotic arms are routinely used to perform delicate surgeries on human bodies. So what could make more sense than bringing those robotics out to the farm to take on the tricky task of selecting and picking ripe berries?
    That’s what a research team from Arkansas and Georgia has been doing with a prototype machine that picks blackberries. Until now, harvesting berries has required the human hand to prevent squishing. That’s become a problem as farms struggle to find enough people to pick them.
    Co-leader of the project is Georgia Institute of Technology’s Professor Yue Chen. Chen has a background in medical robotics and was one of the first to identify the similarities between the needs of the medical field and agriculture. “Mathematically, grasping a delicate fruit is similar to taking a piece of tissue from a patient,” he says. “Both rely on extremely accurate motion control and navigation.”
    Chen joined forces with Renee Threlfall, a food science researcher at the University of Arkansas, and two graduate students. They began by studying how much force humans use to pick blackberries by using silicone finger caps threaded with biometric sensors. The graduate students picked thousands of berries with the finger caps on.
    People primarily use three fingers while picking berries and about one-half-Newton of force. This data was used to build a three-fingered silicone hand capable of grabbing and pulling berries off the bush using the same pressure.
    “The latest machine uses a new version of our soft robotic gripper and a stereotactic camera to identify ripe berries and harvest them autonomously - with no human input. Berry locations are identified by the stereotactic camera using a machine learning algorithm, and the ripeness of the berries is evaluated by an onboard infrared sensor.”
    Check out this video to see the robot berry picker in action: www.youtube.com/watch?v=61rDpQN9-wM
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Professor Yue Chen, Georgia Tech (yue.chen@bme.gatech.edu).

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Medical Robots Coming To The Farm Robotic arms are routinely used to perform delicate surgeries on human bodies So what could make more sense than bringing those robotics out to the farm to take on the tricky task of selecting and picking ripe berries? That’s what a research team from Arkansas and Georgia has been doing with a prototype machine that picks blackberries Until now harvesting berries has required the human hand to prevent squishing That’s become a problem as farms struggle to find enough people to pick them Co-leader of the project is Georgia Institute of Technology’s Professor Yue Chen Chen has a background in medical robotics and was one of the first to identify the similarities between the needs of the medical field and agriculture “Mathematically grasping a delicate fruit is similar to taking a piece of tissue from a patient ” he says “Both rely on extremely accurate motion control and navigation ” Chen joined forces with Renee Threlfall a food science researcher at the University of Arkansas and two graduate students They began by studying how much force humans use to pick blackberries by using silicone finger caps threaded with biometric sensors The graduate students picked thousands of berries with the finger caps on People primarily use three fingers while picking berries and about one-half-Newton of force This data was used to build a three-fingered silicone hand capable of grabbing and pulling berries off the bush using the same pressure “The latest machine uses a new version of our soft robotic gripper and a stereotactic camera to identify ripe berries and harvest them autonomously - with no human input Berry locations are identified by the stereotactic camera using a machine learning algorithm and the ripeness of the berries is evaluated by an onboard infrared sensor ” Check out this video to see the robot berry picker in action: www youtube com/watch?v=61rDpQN9-wM Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Professor Yue Chen Georgia Tech yue chen@bme gatech edu

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