EE.UU: Desarrollan pinza robótica que captura 88% de las manzanas, sin daños

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A robotic gripper developed by Washington State University researchers is able to gently grab the majority of apples out of a tree without damaging the fruit.

The innovative gripper is part of a robotic set-up that the researchers are hoping will someday do fruit picking and other farm chores for Washington farmers to help alleviate ongoing labor shortages. The researchers recently published their work on the gripper in the proceedings of the IEEE 7th International Conference on Soft Robotics.

“We’re hoping that we can help a lot of people with this project,” said Chris Ninatanta, a Ph.D. student in the WSU School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and first author on the paper. “Labor shortages in Washington can be very hurtful to orchards.”

Weighing about two-thirds of a pound, the gripper uses three cables to move 3D-printed hard plastic and silicone rubber-tipped fingers. The fingers have to be gentle enough that they don’t damage the apples but strong enough to pull the apple off the tree. At a cost of about $30 to produce, the gripper includes a switch to grasp the apple and let go. It was able to successfully grab more than 87.5% of the apples in an orchard without damaging them.

Full article: https://news.wsu.edu/news/2024/06/12/new-robotic-gripper-for-automated-apple-picking-developed/

Source: WSU -News