Development of sufflower hervesting robot

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K05897
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 41040:Agricultural environmental engineering and agricultural information engineering-related
• Research Institution: Yamagata University
• Principal Investigator: Katahira Mitsuhiko 山形大学, 農学部, 教授 (20390940)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 人工知能 / ロボットアーム / ベニバナ / 収穫

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Safflower is a crop cultivated in the Middle East and is an annual plant of the Asteraceae family with a height of 0.5 to 1.0 m and a radius of 2.5 to 4.0 cm in early summer. Safflower is used for high quality foods and high-quality cosmetics, but harvesting is worked by hand, therefore the work efficiency is low. In this study, we developed a cultivation management robot to increase the efficiency of the process from cultivation to harvest, aiming at revitalizing the production of safflower, a local specialty agricultural product. Utilization of buds and flowers utilized, moving the robot arm to the detected flower, harvester operation attached to the bottom of the robot arm, suction and storage operation of petals cut by the harvester.

Free Research Field

農業機械学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ベニバナ（Carthamus tinctorius L.）は、初夏に半径2.5～4.0cmのアザミに似た花を咲かせるキク科の一年草である。ベニバナを染料などで利用するには収穫時に草型の最上位に位置する花弁を大量に収穫する必要がある。しかし、生産現地ではベニバナの収穫が手作業での摘み取りを中心としているため、作業能率が101～143h/10aを要するなど作業効率が低く、収穫量が限定される。本研究ではベニバナ生産で課題となっている栽培や収穫作業を効率化する栽培管理ロボットの開発を目的に，AIによるベニバナ花弁と蕾の検出とロボットアーム、収穫部の開発を行った。