An inflatable robotic arm developed by researchers from Washington State University promises to automate fruit harvesting and other farm-related tasks.
According to its developers, the low-cost inflatable robotic apple-picking arm can reportedly identify an apple, then extend and retract to pick the fruit in roughly 25 seconds.
Source: Ryan Dorosh, WSU
The robot, which weighs less than 50 lbs with its metal base, features a 2 ft long arm composed of a soft fabric filled with air.
The developers are working together with researchers from the Prosser Research Extension Center and Cornell University to adapt the arm to an automated moving platform that is currently being developed to navigate through orchards.
Because the inflatable arm is lightweight, it can operate safely near people without damaging delicate branches or apples.
Although the robotic arm is still slow when compared to human pickers who pick an apple every three seconds, the team is working to refine some of its mechanical components and to improve its rudimentary detection system, which slows the picking more than the robotic arm’s movement.
The developers are also working to enhance the arm’s ability to do other orchard tasks, like pruning, flower thinning and spraying.
An article detailing the team’s work, “An everting inflatable fabric manipulator (EIFM) designed for apple picking,” appears in the journal Smart Agricultural Technology.
