Towards Autonomous Selective Harvesting: A Review of Robot Perception, Robot Design, Motion Planning and Control

This paper provides an overview of the current state-of-the-art in selective harvesting robots (SHRs) and their potential for addressing the challenges of global food production. SHRs have the potential to increase productivity, reduce labour costs, and minimise food waste by selectively harvesting only ripe fruits and vegetables. The paper discusses the main components of SHRs, including perception, grasping, cutting, motion planning, and control. It also highlights the challenges in developing SHR technologies, particularly in the areas of robot design, motion planning and control. The paper also discusses the potential benefits of integrating AI and soft robots and data-driven methods to enhance the performance and robustness of SHR systems. Finally, the paper identifies several open research questions in the field and highlights the need for further research and development efforts to advance SHR technologies to meet the challenges of global food production. Overall, this paper provides a starting point for researchers and practitioners interested in developing SHRs and highlights the need for more research in this field.Comment: Preprint: to be appeared in Journal of Field Robotic

Desenvolvimento de um protótipo para colheita automática de plantas aromáticas

This work aims at developing a prototype for automating the harvesting process of medicinal and aromatic plants. Currently there are some solutions for this purpose, but they have many limitations. The goal of this project is to create a smarter solution for the problem. This robot’s key capability is to recognize the plants positions and position a robotic 3-axis-bridge pointer on the center of the plant for harvesting. This project follows the prototype development from its physical structure up to the final results, going through the electronics circuit and software.Este trabalho tem como objetivo desenvolver um protótipo para automatizar o processo de colheita de plantas medicinais e aromáticas. Atualmente existem algumas soluções para este propósito, mas estas apresentam muitas limitações. Assim, o objetivo deste projeto é criar uma solução mais inteligente para o problema. A principal capacidade deste robô é reconhecer a posição das plantas e colocar um dispositivo de corte, acoplado a uma ponte de 3 eixos, no centro da planta, para realizar a colheita. Esta dissertação relata o desenvolvimento do protótipo, desde o projeto da sua estrutura mecânica até os resultados finais, passando pelos circuitos eletrónicos e software.Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica e Telecomunicaçõe