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 Built by development firm Cambridge Consultants, the robot could
boost productivity across the food chain by sorting fruit and
vegetables or, for example, identifying and removing weeds among
crops in a field.
Using low-cost and easily available hardware, such as Microsoft's
Kinect sensor, the scientists designed intuitive algorithms to give
the robotic system a cognitive ability to work out how to best
handle items that vary from shape to shape.
"Traditional robotic systems typically pick up exactly the same
object from exactly the same place and move it to somewhere new;
always doing the same action over and over again. But there are
places, there are applications where robotics aren't used at the
moment where they could be if you can build in this capability of
dealing with natural variations and small changes in the environment
into the robotic system itself," explained Chris Roberts, head of
industrial robotics at Cambridge Consultants.
In order to be a useful tool for fruit and vegetable growers, the
robot needs to recognize the correct objects and calculate the order
in which to pick them. It also needs to plan which grip to use, and
the lifting and placing of each item. The system is capable of
handling objects for which no detailed computer-aided design (CAD)
model exists, says Roberts.
Fundamental to the viability of the system is the design of the
gripper which has to adapt to the shape of the fruit and securely
grip it without damaging it.
"The gripper has got a sensor inside it so it can sense the pressure
of the vacuum tubes as they close around the fruit. And by only
applying a vacuum to the ones that gripped, the ones where there's a
seal, we can spread the pressure across the fruit so we're not
bruising it but we still apply a consistent pressure that allows us
to pick up heavier objects," said Roberts.
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To demonstrate the system in a laboratory setting, a selection of
randomly stacked fruit was sorted into separate bowls. The machine's
software identifies which piece of fruit is closest to the top and
translates this information into co-ordinates and positions the
'hand' to pick the required fruit, whilst avoiding other objects.
The system's algorithms take into account not only size and shape,
but also color. This means, for example, that red apples can be
separated from green apples.
Roberts says that the fruit-picking robot demonstrates an
intelligent system that combines programing, electronics and
mechanical engineering. But he believes similar 'smart' robots could
transform a variety of industrial and commercial processes.
"Another area where this is applicable is when robots come to
interact with people, people aren't as predictable as a production
line. So the robot needs to be able to deal with changes in the
environment and if someone moves an object from one place to another
the robot needs to cope with that," said Roberts.
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