Simple and Reliable: Mechanics Analysis for Robotic Arm of Strawberry Picking Robot

Abstract

In most of the countries, the method of ridge cropping is adopted to plant strawberry, but most countries rely mainly on manual picking. Under the circumstances, developing a strawberry picking mechanism and its automation to replace manual work is an urgent problem waiting to be solved. In this study, based on 3D modelling, stress analyzing and motion simulation, an automatic picking and simple structure robot was innovatively designed. This paper mainly focuses on the part of two robotic arms. The single robotic arm consists of 5 rotational joints, 5 small motors at the joint, 4 Aluminium alloy skeletons and a pair of claws. The claw is made from light materials, and a pliant component is mounted to the surface. Through calculations of its motion simulation, it indicates that each part of the arm can run flexibly with bearing the requests of stress. Moreover, the claws can reduce damage to the fruit during picking by the soft structure. The results of dynamic simulation show that robotic arms can satisfy the requirements of automatic low-damage picking for strawberries in the greenhouse under the ridge.