Development of a riding-type fully automatic transplanter for vegetable plug seedlings
Abstract
Aim of study: The aim of this study was to develop a riding-type fully automatic vegetable seedling transplanter enabling continuous transplanting work on 2 rows simultaneously with plug seedlings fed automatically.
Material and methods: In design, the transplanter consists of a 4-wheel drive system, a seedling pick-up mechanism, a seedling feeding mechanism, a rotation discharging mechanism, a 2-row planting mechanisms, and a multi-source control unit. The 4-wheel drive system is a riding type well adapting to slops. The seedling pick-up mechanism could extract several seedlings at a time from the tray cells conveyed by the feeding mechanism, and then transfer them to the rotation discharging mechanism where they would be released into the 2-row planting mechanisms. The multi-source control unit was constructed to carry out the flexible automation of seedling transplanting. Being the first prototype, the performance tests under actual production conditions were conducted on a vegetable base.
Main results: The testing results showed that the developed fully automatic transplanter could well grasp seedlings from the trays, transfer them, discharge them, and plant them into the ground. The success ratio in picking up seedlings and the qualified percent in planting seedlings were all up to 90%, and the coefficient of variation of plant spacing was less than 5% at the working speed of 60 plants row-1 min-1.
Research highlights: The overall planting effects could well meet the requirements of agronomy cultivation, and the quality of automatic transplanting was satisfactoryDownloads
References
Choi WC, Kim DC, Ryu IH, Kim KU, 2002. Development of a seedling pick-up device for vegetable transplanters. T ASAE 45 (1): 13-19. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.7864
Cui W, Fang X, Zhao L, Song J, Lin J, Dong X, 2013. Structural optimization and experimental verification of geared five-bar linkage seedling pick up device. T CASM 44 (8): 74-77.
Han L, Mao H, Hu J, Tian K, 2015. Development of a doorframe-typed swinging seedling pick-up device for automatic field transplantation. Span J Agric Res 13 (2): 1-14. https://doi.org/10.5424/sjar/2015132-6992
He Y, Li S, Yang X, Yan H, Wang W, 2016. Kinematic analysis and performance experiment of cam-swing link planting mechanism. T CSAE 32 (6): 34-41.
Hu J, Zhang J, He J, Yan X, 2013. Motion analysis and experiment for planting mechanism with planetary gears of transplanting machine. T CASM 44 (10): 57-61.
Kumi F, Mao H, Li Q, Luhua H, 2016. Assessment of tomato seedling substrate-root quality using X-ray computed tomography and scanning electron microscopy. Appl Eng Agr 32 (3): 1-11.
Mao H, Han L, Hu J, Kumi F, 2014. Development of a pincette-typr pick-up for automatic transplanting of greenhouse seedlings. Appl Eng Agr 30 (4): 1-10.
Nguyen KD, Ng T, Chen L, 2008. On algorithms for planning S-curve motion profiles. Int J Adv Robot Syst 5 (1): 99-106. https://doi.org/10.5772/5652
Ni Y, Jin C, Liu J, 2015. Design and experiment of system for picking up and delivering seedlings in automatic transplanter. T CSAE 31 (23): 10-19.
Parish RL, 2005. Current developments in seeders and planters for vegetable crops. HortTech 15 (2): 541-546.
Prasanna KGV, Raheman H, 2008. Vegetable transplanters for use in developing countries - a review. Int J Veg Sci 14 (3): 232-255. https://doi.org/10.1080/19315260802164921
Prasanna KGV, Raheman H, 2011. Development of a walk-behind type hand tractor powered vegetable transplanter for paper pot seedlings. Biosyst Eng 110 (2): 189-197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2011.08.001
Shaw LN, 1993. Changes needed to facilitate automatic field transplanting. HortTech 3 (4): 418-420. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH.3.4.418
Ting KC, Giacomelli GA, Shen, SJ, 1990. Robot workcell for transplanting of seedlings: part Ⅱ- end-effector development. T ASAE 33 (3): 1013-1017. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.31431
Tsuga K, 2000. Development of fully automatic vegetable transplanter. Jap Agr Res Quart 34 (1): 21-28.
Wang Y, Chen J, Zhao X, Sun X, 2015. Parameter optimization and experiment of planting mechanism driven by planetary non circular gears. T CASM 46 (9): 85-93.
Yang Y, Ting KC, Giacomelli GA, 1991. Factors affecting performance of sliding-needles gripper during robotic transplanting of seedlings. T ASAE 7 (4): 493-498. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.26251
Zhang Z, Cao W, Wang Q, Zhang P, 2013. Development status and prospect of plug seedlings automatic transplanting machine. J Agr Mechan Res 5(5): 237-241.
© CSIC. Manuscripts published in both the printed and online versions of this Journal are the property of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, and quoting this source is a requirement for any partial or full reproduction.
All contents of this electronic edition, except where otherwise noted, are distributed under a “Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International” (CC BY 4.0) License. You may read here the basic information and the legal text of the license. The indication of the CC BY 4.0 License must be expressly stated in this way when necessary.
Self-archiving in repositories, personal webpages or similar, of any version other than the published by the Editor, is not allowed.