RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF OIL PALM HARVESTER ROBOT AT UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA

Abstract

For several decades, Malaysia was the largest producers of agricultural products especially palm oil and rubber. Presently, Malaysian agricultural sector is at crucial stage. Labor problem is said to be one of the contributing factor for the higher cost of production and deteriorating agro-based industries. Automation and robotics technology must be introduced and developed immediately in the plantation sector especially in solving the harvesting, collection and transportation of the oil palm FFB. This paper describes on the development of oil palm FFB bio-production robot at Universiti Putra Malaysia.The initial project started in 1993 involved in the modification of the grabber for oil palm FFB by changing of the manual control to an automatic control system using the solenoid control valves. With the use of hydraulic cylinders, relief valves, flow control valves, relays, sensors, limit switches and 4/3 way solenoid valves, the grabber was able to function automatically to grab, lift, turn, position and drop the oil palm FFB inside the dumper. In 1997, a portable agricultural robot was designed and fabricated using hydraulic system from the tractor as the power source. This robot was automate using computer control system namely: Hydraulic Simulation Software (Hydraulsim) and Genie Software. Research progressed to the development of end effectors namely the cutter to harvest the oil palm FFB and the use of Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) as the controller to automate the process of harvesting. Camera vision using web cam was later introduced for the Videogrammetry technique and triangulation method to measure the x,y,and z distance of the oil palm FFB on the plant.The robot systems, computer control system, camera vision, unmanned tractor, and online harvesting robot were studied, designed and tested. With the use of the computer control software, interface hardware, valves and actuators, the prototype robot able to move the manipulators to harvest and collect agricultural products. Machine vision for the agricultural robot able to identify the object to be picked and harvested. Tractor equipped with sensors and controllers enable the tractor to operate automatically. Wireless networking device with communication camera and communication software enable the operator to control the unmanned mobile harvesting robot.