Progress 12/15/14 to 12/14/18
Outputs
Target Audience:The outcomes of this project were used to communicate with researchers, growers, manufacturing industry, and other stakeholders from around the world through publication and presentation in local, national and international meetings and conferences. Project outcomes were also demonstrated and discussed with local news outlets, which disseminated the information to growers, researchers and general public in the Pacific Northwest region and nationally. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two PhD students and five visiting scholars were actively involved in this project. Three post-doctoral researchers also helped planning and implementing experiments. PIs, Post-docs, students and scholars interacted frequently to discuss the progresses, address challenges and plan future tasks and activities. Post-docs, students, and scholars carried out most of the day-to-day research activities including data collection and analysis. Post-docs, students and scholars were also supervised for research paper writing, presentation and publications. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The prototype of shake-and-catch platform was demonstrated and tested in several commercial orchards in Washington State. Apple growers have shown huge interest and have provided various types of support including access to their orchards for experiments. The results of developed shake-and-catch harvesting platform and field evaluation have also been disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, theses, conference papers/posters, and technical reports; presentations at national and international meetings and conferences (e.g. American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ASABE) Annual International Meetings (Orlando, FL 2016; Spokane, WA 2017; Detroit, MI 2018); CIGR International Conference on Agricultural Engineering (Aarhus, Denmark 2016); The 5th and 6th IFAC Conference on Sensing, Control and Automation in Agriculture/Bio-Robotics (Seattle, WA 2016; Beijing, China 2018); WSU GPSA Research Exposition Event (Pullman, WA 2018)); community (CPAAS Open House Day, Prosser, WA 2017) and high-school and local college students (WSU Crop Science and Horticulture Department/UIC tour/Ki-Be tour/Entrust Community Services (Prosser, WA 2018); Reach Museum Showcase (Tri-city, WA 2018)); the national journal of Good Fruit Growers (https://www.goodfruit.com/shaking-it-up-in-the-orchard-video/); and collaborators (e.g. Allan Brothers, Inc.). These presentations initiated dissemination of findings to various stakeholders and initiated a lot of discussion in the scientific community for future research and development. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
? Obj#1. Study mechanisms for targeted shaking of tree branches for localized removal of apple During shake-and-catch harvesting, certain amount of apples are not removed from trees, primarily due to insufficient level of shaking energy transferred through the canopy. To understand and improve this situation, first, mechanisms for targeted shaking were studied aimed at providing the fundamental knowledge on the efficiency in detaching apples from different locations of tree branches in formally-, trellis-trained trees (vertical or V-axis canopies). A hand-held mechanical shaker and a dynamic test system (changing shaking frequency) was developed to measure the response of fruit under various shaking patterns. When tested with 'Scifresh' cultivar of apples, it was found that fruit could generally be removed within the first 5 s of shaking when fruit acceleration was higher than 5 g (g = 9.8 m s-2) under 15, 20, and 25 Hz shaking frequencies. It was fond that high shaking frequency (e.g. 20 Hz) removed majority of the fruit in a short shaking duration but some of the fruit may get excessive energy, while low shaking frequency (e.g. 10 Hz) was not sufficient for fruit removal. Obj#2. Investigate mechanisms for catching harvested apple with minimal damage As the second task, various materials and mechanisms were investigated for collecting harvested fruit as harvest-induced fruit damage with regular shake and catch operation was the major obstacle to commercializing this technology. To gain an understanding of how cushioning materials can absorb impacts on fruit, an indoor experiment was carried out with 'Scifresh' apples. Three types of cushioning materials (polyurethane foam, firmness of 2.1-11 kPa at 25% deflection, density of 44.9-48.1 kg m-3, thickness of 12.7 mm) covering an aluminum plate were tested. The results showed that no bruising caused when apples were impacted at 22 N with the bare aluminum plate. The tolerable impact levels to maintain 100% of apples within the U.S. fresh-market quality (based on USDA standards) threshold were 95, 160, and 160 N for three different types of foams, respectively, which indicated a cushioning material with a firmness rating of 4.8 kPa or higher could provide sufficient cushioning for dropped apples. In addition, different types of catching mechanisms were studied. A multi-layer, mirrored catching system was found to achieve the best catching efficiency; more discussion about this can be found under Obj#4. Obj#3. Study horticultural strategies for improved shake-and-catch harvesting In addition to the effective and efficient shaking and catching mechanisms, tree canopy management is highly critical to the success of the shake-and-catch harvest system. Different canopy parameters, such as branches, fruits, and offshoots, may have different impact on vibratory mechanical harvesting system. Therefore, research has also been conducted to determine the key canopy parameters influencing the performance of the system. Supervised machine learning algorithm with weighted k-nearest neighbors (w-kNN) was adopted to analyze these canopy datasets and associated performance of the harvesting system. Then, principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out to determine the key canopy parameters by calculating the coefficients of principal components. With this study, fruit load, branch basal diameter, shoot length, and shoot basal diameter were determined as some of the most important canopy geometric parameters influencing the performance of the harvesting system. In another study, fruiting lateral branches were pruned to either shorter than 15 cm (G1) or 23 cm (G2). It was found that fruit removal efficiency for branches treated with G1 was significantly higher (91%) than the efficiency for branches treated with G2 (81%). Fruit removal efficiency was up to 98% when shoots were shorter than 5 cm, and the efficiency was only 56% for shoots 25 cm or longer. In addition, we used a shoot diameter-to-length ratio (S-index) to better understand the effect of shoot size on fruit removal efficiency. Fruit removal efficiency was as high as 98% when the S-index was greater than 0.15. Field trials showed that more than 90% of apples with S-index greater than 0.06 could be removed under 20 Hz shaking with 32 mm stroke. The study provided the baseline knowledge and revealed a relationship between fruit canopy characteristics and targeted shaking mechanisms, which could help the harvest system to gain higher fruit removal efficiency. Obj#4. Evaluate integrated shake-and-catch system in production orchard environments Targeted or localized harvesting was realized by shaking targeted tree limbs and catching the detached apples directly under the limbs. Harvesting test was conducted using the integrated shake-and-catch harvesting platform with five apple varieties trained at three different canopy architectures ('Jazz'- vertical fruiting wall, 'Gala' - V-trellis, 'Envy' - V-trellis, 'Fuji' - V-trellis, and 'Cosmic Crisp' - Bi-axis). One of the earlier prototypes resulted in a fruit removal efficiency of 84%, 86%, and 92% respective with 15, 20, and 25 Hz shaking. The corresponding collection efficiencies were 99%, 98%, and 93%. The system achieved the highest fruit quality grade (Extra Fancy) of 85% when the limb was shaken at 15 Hz and fruits were collected using a catching surface tilted at an angle of 25°. The system was then improved with hydraulic actuation and tested in 2016-2017. The system consisted of a four-wheel steering, self-propelled orchard platform, and a hydraulic motor powered vibratory shaker. The system provided 20 Hz continuous shaking (36 mm stroke). A mirrored, three-layer fruit catching mechanism (each surface was 250 cm × 120 cm × 10 cm) was used with catching surfaces padded with buffering foams. Catching surface was oriented at 15° of elevation angle. With this system on 'Scifresh' apples, a fruit removal efficiency of 76.6% and 78.1% was achieved with shaking at middle of each branch for 2 s and 5 s shaking, respectively. The efficiency increased to 86.3% and 89.5% for shaking at the base of the branches. The prototype was further automated and evaluated more comprehensively in 2018. An overall fruit removal efficiency of 90%, fruit collection efficiency of 88%, and the marketable fruit proportion of 85% have been achieved on 'Scifresh'. It is worth mentioning that in the field trials, the intermittent shaking strategy (continuous linear reciprocating vibration with a sudden interrupted and then rapid resumption) was adopted with 20 Hz, 36 mm stroke signal. In 2018, harvesting time efficiency was also evaluated. Results showed that most of time was spent on positioning the shaker head (~103 s), which accounts for 59.2% of the entire duration needed to harvest one tree segment. Branch shaking time was ~13 s and it took ~28 s to move platform from one tree to the next. The results showed a great promise for harvesting apples with a targeted, multi-layer shake-and-catch system for certain apple cultivars such as Scifresh and Jazz (similar results). On the other hand, it was found that the shake-and-catch system may not be practical for some varieties such as Gala (only about 65% removal efficiency) or Honeycrisp where fruit removal efficiency or fruit quality or both were limiting. These innovations, if further developed through future efforts by research teams and/or manufacturing companies, are expected to help make the mechanized harvesting technology commercially adoptable to a substantial portion of apple industry. When commercially adopted, the developed mechanical shake-and-catch harvesting system can significantly improve the harvesting efficiency of fresh market apples and potentially reduce labor use to less than 20% of current use.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Zhang, J., He, L., Karkee, M., Zhang, Q., Zhang, X., & Gao, Z. 2018. Branch Detection for Apple Trees Trained in Fruiting Wall Architecture using Depth Features and Regions-Convolutional Neural Network (R-CNN). Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. 155: 386-393.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Zhang, X., He, L., Majeed, Y., Karkee, M., Whiting, M. D., & Zhang, Q. 2018. A Precision Pruning Strategy for Improving Efficiency of Vibratory Mechanical Harvesting of Apples. Transactions of the ASABE. 61(5): 1565-1576.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Ma, S., Karkee, M., Han, F., Sun, D., & Zhang, Q. 2018. Evaluation of Shake-and-Catch Mechanism in Mechanical Harvesting of Apples. Transactions of the ASABE, 61(4): 1257-1263.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
He, L., Han, F., Xia, H., Karkee, M., Zhang, Q., Whiting, M. 2018. Evaluation of a Localized Shake-and-Catch Harvesting System for Fresh Market Apples. Agricultural Engineering International: CIGR Journal, 19(4): 36-44.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
He, L., Fu, H., Sun, D., Karkee, M., & Zhang, Q. 2017. Shake and Catch Harvesting for Fresh Market Apples in Trellis Trained Trees. Transactions of the ASABE. 60(2): 353-360.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
He, L., Zhang, X., Ye, Y., Karkee, M., & Zhang, Q. 2019. Effect of Shaking Location and Duration on Mechanical Harvesting of Fresh Market Apples. Applied Engineering in Agriculture. (Accepted)
|
Progress 12/15/16 to 12/14/17
Outputs
Target Audience:The outcomes of this project were used to communicate with researchers, growers, manufacturing industry, and other stakeholders from around the world through publication and presentation in local, national and international meetings and conferences. Project outcomes were also demonstrated and discussed with local news outlets, which disseminated the information to growers, researchers and general public in the Pacific Northwest region. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One PhD student and two visiting scholars were actively involved in this project. Two post-doctoral researchers also helped planning and implementing experiments. PIs, Post-docs, students and scholars interacted frequently to discuss the progresses, address challenges and plan future tasks and activities. Post-docs, students, and scholars carried out most of the day-to-day research activities including data collection and analysis. Post-docs, students and scholars were also supervised for research paper writing, presentation and publications. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The prototype of shake-and-catch platform was demonstrated and tested in several commercial orchards in Washington State. Apple growers have shown huge interest and have provided various types of support including access to their orchards for experiments. We presented various aspects of the developed shake-and-catch harvesting platform and field evaluation results in various national and international conferences such as '2017 ASABE International Annual Meeting held in Spokane, WA (July, 16-19, 2017)'. These presentations initiated dissemination of findings to various stakeholders and initiated a lot of discussion in the scientific community for future research and development. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Modification of catching surface to improve the engagement with tree canopy (avoiding the obstacles of fruit branches, offshoots, etc.) to reduce fruit dropping through the the gaps between catching frames used from two sides of the tree rows; Repeat pruning trials and study the relationship between fruit bearing shoot and fruit removal efficiency with various apple varieties. Improve the robustness and maneuverability of the multi-layer shake-and-catch platform, and demonstrate to the growers and public.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Summary of Impacts In this study, we have focused on improving the quality of harvested fruits by optimizing the design of shake and catch platform and its operation, identifying and minimizing bruising sources during harvesting, and improving the crop architecture. These innovations are expected to help make the mechanized harvesting technology commercially adoptable. When commercially adopted, the developed mechanical shake and catch harvesting system can significantly improve the harvesting efficiency of fresh market apples and potentially reduce labor use to less than 20% of current use. Obj.# 1: Study of Mechanisms for Targeted Shaking Major activities completed / experiments conducted; Fruit response test was conducted under varying shaking frequencies; Fruit motion and detachment study was conducted under continuously changing frequencies from low to high; A hydraulically-driven (MGG20016-BA1B3, Parker Hannifin Corp., Mayfield Heights, OH) vibratory shaker, which was modified from a commercial handheld reciprocating saw (SP200, STIHL Inc., Virginia Beach, VA), was used for the shaking experiments; Data collected; Fruit acceleration was recorded for the fruits at different location of branches, and under different shaking frequencies. High speed videos of fruit detachment process were recorded under continuous changing frequencies over 5 s; The developed shaker was used for the system evaluation with 20 Hz, and also the shaking duration of 2 and 5 s was applied. The number of detached fruit and overall fruit at each section were recorded. Summary statistics and discussion of results; For 'Envy', an acceleration of ~ 5 g (g= 9.8 m·s2) was enough to detach fruit. The fruit location index of >0.06 was essential for efficient fruit removal. High shaking frequency (e.g. 20 Hz) removed majority of the fruit in a short shaking duration but some of the fruit may get excessive energy, while low shaking frequency (e.g. 10 Hz) was not sufficient for fruit removal. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Tree branch diameter and length played a critical role in fruit removal efficiency. Appropriate tree pruning is essential to achieve high level of fruit removal efficiency. It might be beneficial to gradually increase shaking frequency from low to high to remove majority of the fruit while keeping damage percentage a low level. Obj.# 2: Investigate mechanisms for catching harvested apple with minimal damage 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; Two three-layer catching frames were developed; six pieces of cushioning surfaces (density of 44.9 kg m-3 and firmness of 4.8 kPa) were used for the catching frames. Each catching surface was 2.5 × 1.2 m with an adjustable elevation angle (α = 15°) to enlarge the fruit coverage area and minimize the possibility of fruit impact bruising. 2) Data collected; Overall fruit collection efficiency was calculated using the number of successfully collected fruit over the total harvested fruit. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results; Fruit collection efficiency ranged from 95% to 99% in all tests. Some fruit were dropping from the gaps between two sides of catching system; a few bounced out after heating the cushioning surface. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Results will be useful in developing next generation prototype; one improvement will be to minimize the gap-between the catchers from two sides. Obj.# 3: Study tree training, pruning and thinning strategies to improve shaking efficiency, catching efficiency and fruit damage rate Major activities completed / experiments conducted; Harvesting test was conducted in the trees with two different pruning treatments: 6" and 9" pruning. A shoot index (ratio of diameter/length) was introduced to the trellis trained branches to evaluate the fruit removal efficiency and harvested fruit quality with respect to the biophysical attributes of fruit bearing branches. 2) Data collected; Total number of fruit in a set of randomly selected braches, and number of harvested fruit from those branches; Fruit removal condition and fruit location in a branch; Biophysical attribute of branches before and after harvesting activity; Fruit quality analysis based on USDA standards; 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results; Fruit removal efficiency in the trees with 6" pruning was significantly higher than that in the trees with 9" pruning (91% and 81%); Fruit with larger shoot index (i.e., fruit bearing offshoot with relatively thicker diameter, and shorter length) had higher likelihood to be removed from the branches; No significant difference was observed in the quality of harvested fruit between two types of pruning strategies. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Results from this objective will be useful for horticultural improvements that can be adopted for making tree canopies more suitable for mechanical harvesting. Obj. #4: Evaluate integrated shake-and-catch platform in orchard environments in terms of fruit removal and collection efficiencies, and fruit quality Major activities completed / experiments conducted; A multi-layer shake-and-catch harvesting system was developed using a four-wheel hydraulically-driven self-propelled orchard platform (OPS, Blueline, Moxee, WA); Trees were shaken at the middle of each branch (or P1), and close to the trunk (or P2); Two shaking durations were used; 2 s and 5 s. Harvesting test was conducted using the integrated shake-and-catch harvesting platform with five apple varieties trained at three different canopy architectures ('Jazz'- vertical fruiting wall, 'Gala' - V-trellis, 'Envy' - V-trellis, 'Fuji' - V-trellis, and 'Cosmic Crisp' - Bi-axis). 2) Data collected; Fruit removal efficiency, collection efficiency, coverage efficiency, damage percentage ('Extra Fancy', 'Fancy', & 'Downgrade' levels) were estimated; 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results The shaking duration of 2 s and 5 s had only slight difference in terms of fruit removal efficiency and fruit quality. Majority of fruits were detached within the first 2 s; Shaking at the location close to the tree trunk (P2) obtained higher fruit removal efficiency, especially when the trunk fruit were taken into consideration. Overall fruit removal efficiency was up to 78% for shaking at middle of each branch up to 90% for shaking at the location close to the tree trunk; Fruit quality decreased for P2 compared to that for P1. The percentage of marketable fruits ('Extra Fancy' & 'Fancy') was about 90% for 2 s shaking and shaking at P2. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. This study revealed that 2 s shaking is sufficient to remove majority of the fruits, and the shaking close to trunk achieved higher overall fruit removal efficiency but slightly smaller percent of fruit were of fresh market quality.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Fu, H., He, L., Ma, S., Karkee, M., Chen, D., Zhang, Q., & Wang, S. (2017). Jazz Apple Impact Bruise Responses to Different Cushioning Materials. Trans. ASABE, 60(2), 327336.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
He, L., Fu, H., Karkee, M., & Zhang, Q. (2017). Effect of fruit location on apple detachment with mechanical shaking. Biosyst. Eng., 157, 6371.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
He, L., Fu, H., Sun, D., Karkee, M., & Zhang, Q. (2017). Shake-and-Catch Harvesting for Fresh Market Apples in Trellis-Trained Trees. Trans. ASABE, 60(2), 353360.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
He L., Fu, H., Xia, H., Karkee, M., Zhang, Q., & M. Whiting. (2017) Evaluation of a localized shake-and-catch harvesting for fresh market apples. Agricultural Engineering International: CIGR Journal. (In press)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
He, L., Zhang, X., Ye, Y., Karkee, M., & Zhang, Q. (2017). Shaking Location and Duration Effect on Mechanical Harvesting of Fresh Market Apples. ASABE Paper No. 1701056. ASABE, St. Joseph, Mich.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Zhang, X., He, L., Majeed, Y., Karkee, M., Whiting, M. D., & Zhang, Q. (2017). A Study of the Influence of Pruning Strategy Effect on Vibrational Harvesting of Apples. ASABE Paper No. 1700812. ASABE, St. Joseph, Mich.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Zhang, J., He, L., Karkee, M., Zhang, Q., Zhang, X., & Gao, Z. (2017). Branch Detection with Apple Trees Trained in Fruiting Wall Architecture using Stereo Vision and Regions-Convolutional Neural Network(R-CNN). ASABE Paper No. 1700427. ASABE, St. Joseph, Mich.
|
Progress 12/15/15 to 12/14/16
Outputs
Target Audience:The outcome of this project was communicated with researchers, growers, manufacturing industry and other stakeholders from around the world through publication and presentation in local, national and international meetings and conferences. Project outcomes were also demonstrated and discussed with local news outlets, which disseminated the information to growers, researchers and general public in the Pacific Northwest region. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One PhD student and three visiting scholars were actively involved in this project. Two post-doctoral researchers also helped planning and implementing experiments. PIs, Post-docs, students and scholars interacted frequently to discuss progress, address challenges and plan future tasks and activities. Post-docs, students, and scholars carried out most of the day-to-day research activities including data collection and analysis. Post-docs, students and scholars were also supervised for research paper writing, presentation and publications. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The prototype shake-and-catch system was demonstrated and tested in several commercial orchards in Washington State. Apple growers have shown huge interest and have provided various types of support including access to their orchards for experiments. We presented various aspects of the developed shake-and-catch harvesting system and field evaluation results in various national and international conferences including '2016 CIGR International Conference on Agricultural Engineering, held in Aarhus, Denmark (June, 26-29, 2016), 2016 ASABE International Annual Meeting held in Orlando, FL (July, 17-20, 2016), and AgriControl 2016, The 5th IFAC Conference on Sensing, Control and Automation in Agriculture, held in Seattle, WA (August 14-17, 2016). These presentations initiated dissemination of findings to various stakeholders and initiated a lot of discussion in the scientific community for future research and development. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Shake-and-catch system will be integrated to a self-propelled platform, and more field tests will be continued to evaluate the functionality and performance of the targeted shake-and-catch harvesting system; Multi-layer catching function will be added to the system to explore fruit dropping characteristics and fruit collection efficiency in wider canopy regions; Repeat pruning trials and study the relationship between fruit location and fruit detachment efficiency on various apple varieties
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Summary of Impacts In this study, we have focused on improving the quality of harvested fruits by optimizing the design of shake and catch system and its operation, identifying and minimizing bruising sources during harvesting, and improving the crop architecture. These innovations are expected to help make the mechanized harvesting technology commercially adoptable. When commercially adopted, the developed mechanical shake and catch harvesting system can significantly improve the harvesting efficiency of fresh market apples and potentially reduce labor use to less than 20% of current use. Obj.# 1: Study of Mechanisms for Targeted Shaking The shaking mechanisms developed in last reporting period were used in experiments for this year Obj.# 2: Investigate mechanisms for catching harvested apple with minimal damage 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; A pendulum impact device was developed to test the impact strength between fruit and various catching materials in the laboratory environment; A fruit catching prototype was modified based on the finding with previous catching surface. New features added include a bounce buffer and a rolling buffer. Lab test was conducted to evaluate the effect of buffers and catching angles. An air pressured catching device was developed and tested in the field condition. The catching device was designed to incorporate the following two critical functionalities: (1) decelerate the fruit falling from branches; and (2) separate fruit before they land on the catching surface. 2) Data collected; Impact force exerted at different apple zones when dropped on different catching cushion materials from varying drop heights; Accelerations of a simulated apple (Impact Recording Device) when dropped from varying heights to different the catching device with or without buffers; Fruit quality data for the fruits collected using a air catching device with varying air flow pressure 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results The bruising-resistance of apples improved noticeably with the use of appropriate cushioning materials; Top zone of apple surface was found to be the most sensitive area for inducing bruising under mechanical impact; The catching device with two buffers (bouncing and rolling) provided the highest level of protection to the collected fruit; Catching surface elevation angle of 25° was relatively better than other two surface angles considering both fruit transfer velocity and fruit impact strength in the catching device; The fruit catching tests carried out in the field using an air catching device indicated that the percentage of damaged apples can be reduced by 36.9%. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Results from the evaluation of different types of catching mechanisms and varying catching surface angle will be useful for developing next generation of the prototype, which can potentially lead to commercialization of the shake and catch harvesting system Obj.# 3: Study tree training, pruning and thinning strategies to improve shaking efficiency, catching efficiency and fruit damage rate Major activities completed / experiments conducted; Harvesting test was conducted in the trees with two different pruning treatments (6" and 9" pruning); A fruit location index was introduced to the trellis trained branch/fruit section to evaluate the fruit removal efficiency with respect to the fruit location 2) Data collected; Total number of fruit in a set of randomly selected braches, and number of harvested fruit from those branches; Fruit detachment condition and the fruit location in a branch 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results Fruit removal efficiency in the trees with 6" pruning was noticeably higher than that in the trees with 9" pruning branches; Fruits with smaller fruit location index (i.e. fruit closer to the shaking point, in relatively thicker twig, and shorter twig length) had higher possibility to be detached from the branches 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Information and results from this objective is useful for horticultural changes that can be adopted for making canopies friendlier for mechanical harvesting Obj. #4: Evaluate integrated shake-and-catch system in orchard environments in terms of fruit removal and collection efficiencies, and fruit quality (Karkee - Lead) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; Harvesting test was conducted using the integrated shake-and-catch harvesting system on eight varieties of apples with three different tree canopy architectures in Washington State. 2) Data collected; Number of fruit in targeted branches, number of harvested fruit from each branch, number of fruit collected from each branch, fruit quality assessment based on USDA standards 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results For the varieties and architectures tested, fruit removal efficiency varied from 66% to 95% under the shaking frequency of 20 Hz. For most of tested varieties, removal efficiency was 80% or higher within the targeted area. For example, removal efficiency of 86% and 88% were achieved for "Jazz" and "Pink Lady" varieties respectively. "Gala" and "Envy" varieties were the most difficult to detach from branches, which achieved only 68% and 66% of fruit removal efficiency. Developed catching device collected a large percentage of the harvested fruit from target region ranging from 91% to 100%; In these experiments, percentage of fruit with US Extra Fancy quality (bruise area diameter less than 12.7 mm) varied from 57% to 89%. Fresh market quality varied from 78% to 94%. With some varieties including "Jazz" and "Pink Lady", the harvesting system achieved both good fruit removal efficiency and good fruit quality. Both of these two varieties had 94% of fresh market quality fruit, with fruit removal efficiencies of 86% and 88% for "Jazz" and "Pink Lady" respectively. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Fruit removal efficiency and fruit quality were depended on the cultivars, some varieties such as Jazz, Fuji, and Pink Lady were found to be promising for mechanical harvesting in terms of both fruit removal efficiency and fruit quality.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
He, L., H. Fu, D. Sun, M. Karkee, and Q. Zhang. 2016. A shake and catch harvesting system for trellis trained apple trees. Transactions of the ASABE. (under review)
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Fu, H., L. He, S. Ma, M. Karkee, Q. Zhang, and S. Wang. 2016. A shake and catch harvesting system for trellis trained apple trees. Transactions of the ASABE. (under review)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Karkee, M., Q. Zhang, M. Whiting, L. He, H. Fu, and H. Xia. 2016. Localized shake-and-catch harvesting for fresh market apples. CIGR-AgEng Conference. June 26-29, Aarhus, Denmark.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
He, L., H. Fu, D. Sun, M. Karkee, and Q. Zhang. 2016. A shake and catch harvesting system forJazz apples trained in vertical fruiting wall architecture. ASABE Paper No. 162461420. ASABE, St. Joseph, Mich.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Fu, H., L. He, S. Ma, M. Karkee, and Q. Zhang. 2016. Impact bruise responses for Jazz apple on different materials of catch surface. ASABE Paper No. 162461461. ASABE, St. Joseph, Mich.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
He, L., H. Fu, M. Karkee, and Q. Zhang. 2016. Effect of fruit location on apple detachment with mechanical shaking. IFAC AgriControl 2016, August 14-17, Seattle, USA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Fu H., L. He, M. Karkee, and Q. Zhang. 2016. Bruise responses of apple-to-apple impact. IFAC AgriControl 2016, August 14-17, Seattle, USA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Ma, S., M. Karkee, H. Fu, D. Sun, and Q. Zhang. Air Suspension-based Catching Mechanism for Mechanical Harvesting of Apples. In proc. of 5th IFAC Conference on Sensing, Control and Automation Technologies for Agriculture. August 14-17, 2016, Seattle, WA, USA.
|
Progress 12/15/14 to 12/14/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The outcome of this project was communicated with researchers, growers, manufacturing industry and other stakeholders from around the world through publication and presentation in local, national and international meetings and conferences. Project outcomes were also demonstrated and discussed with local news outlets, which disseminated the information to growers, researchers and general public in the Pacific Northwest region. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One PhD student and three visiting scholars were actively involved in this project. Two post-doctoral researchers also helped planning and implementing experiments. PIs, Post-docs, students and scholars interacted frequently to discuss the progresses, address challenges and lay out future tasks and activities. Students and scholars carried out most of the day-to-day research activities including data collection and analysis. Students were also supervised for research paper writing, presentation and publications. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The prototype of shake and catch system was demonstrated and tested in several commercial orchards in Washington State. Apple growers have shown huge interest and have provided various types of support including access to their orchards for experiments. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Field tests will be continued to validate function of the developed shake and catch prototypes. Shaking and catching mechanisms will be integrated into a system for system level evaluation New training and thinning strategies will be explored; pruning trials will be repeated.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Summary of Impacts This study puts a huge emphasize on improving the quality of harvested fruits by optimizing the design of shake and catch system, and investigating the bruising sources during harvesting, which is a major concern for the technology commercialization. When commercially adopted, the developed mechanical shake and catch harvesting system can significantly improve the harvesting efficiency of fresh market apples and potentially reduce labor use to less than 20% of current use. Obj.# 1: Develop of an effective shake and catch system for mechanical harvesting of fresh market apples 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; A shaking prototype with an ability to adjust frequency and amplitude was designed and fabricated. Laboratory and field tests were conducted to estimate optimal shaking frequency, shaking amplitude and shaking direction in terms of high fruit removal rate and good fruit quality 2) Data collected; Fruit removal rate, shaking duration, and fruit quality were recorded during the shake harvesting; tests were carried our with three different apple varieties and two different tree architectures 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results Preliminary results showed that the shaking frequency and amplitude have an influence on the fruit removal percentage and fruit quality Further experimental analysis of the prototype is ongoing 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. This task will lead to identification of optimum combination of frequency and amplitude of shaking for different apple varieties. Such information will be useful to design next generation prototypes and commercial machines for shake-and-catch apple harvesting. Obj.# 2: Investigate mechanisms for catching harvested apple with minimal damage 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; An fruit catching prototype was developed with fruits deceleration and separation mechanism; lab and field tests were conducted to study the effect of catching angle on fruit bruising 2) Data collected; Field data was collected with different catching mechanisms and varying catching angle; Dataset included measures such as collection percentage, and fruit quality for three different varieties and two different tree architectures 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results Preliminary results showed that the new catching prototype developed in this work performed better than a regular foam catching surface in terms of fruit quality; The results also showed that catching surface would minimize the fruit bruising percentage if the collection surface is at 25 degrees to the horizontal surface Further experimental analysis of the prototypes is ongoing 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Knowledge on type of catching mechanism and optimal catching angle will be useful for developing next generation of the prototype and for commercialization of the shake and catch harvesting system Obj.# 3: Study tree training, pruning and thinning strategies to improve shaking efficiency, catching efficiency and fruit damage rate Major activities completed / experiments conducted; Apple tree architectures were investigated for designing effective shake and catch system Two different pruning strategies were applied to more than 50 trees of two different varieties of apples produced in a commercial orchard 2) Data collected; Harvesting efficiency data is currently being collected 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results Effect of two different pruning strategies will be studied during data analysis 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Information and results from this objective is useful for horticultural changes that can be adopted for making canopies more friendly for mechanical harvesting. Obj. #4: Evaluate integrated shake-and-catch system in orchard environments in terms of fruit removal and collection efficiencies, and fruit quality (Karkee - Lead) N/A
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
De Kleine, M. E., and M. Karkee. 2015. A Semi-automated harvesting prototype for shaking fruit tree limbs. The Transactions of ASABE. Accepted.
|
|