A prototype of an orange picking robot: past history, the new robot and experimental results

Purpose – To construct a commercial agricultural manipulation for fruit picking and handling without human intervention. Design/methodology/approach – Describes a research activity involving a totally autonomous robot for fruit picking and handling crates. Findings – Picking time for the robotic fruit picker at 8.7 s per orange is longer than the evaluated cited time of 6 s per orange. Research limitations/implications – The final system, recently tested, has not yet achieved a level of productivity capable of replacing human pickers. Further mechanical modifications and more robust and adaptive algorithms are needed to achieve a stronger robot system. Practical implications – Experimental results and new simulations look very promising. Originality/value – Will help to limit costs and guarantee a high degree of reliability.