Design and Experimental Validation of Stem-Clamping-and-Pull-Out-Type Pepper Plug Seedling-Picking Mechanism

Zhenhua Lin, Xiao Li, Hao Sun, Maile Zhou (), Jianjun Yin, Jijia He and Daqing Yin
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Zhenhua Lin: School of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Xiao Li: School of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Hao Sun: School of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Maile Zhou: School of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Jianjun Yin: School of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Jijia He: School of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Daqing Yin: College of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China

Agriculture, 2025, vol. 15, issue 14, 1-18

Abstract: As a core component of a fully automatic pepper transplanter, the performance of the seedling-picking mechanism is of particular significance. However, existing seedling-picking mechanisms have problems such as being prone to damaging the seedling roots and substrate, as well as having poor stability. To develop a highly efficient, stable, and minimally damaging seedling-picking mechanism, this study proposed a design scheme for a stem-clamping-and-pulling-out-type seedling-picking end actuator driven by a non-circular gear system. The specific methods and objectives include the following: (1) designing a differential non-circular gear system to replicate a manual picking trajectory accurately; (2) establishing a kinematic model and developing optimization software to determine the optimal parameter combination; (3) experimentally validating the mechanism’s performance through virtual simulations and bench tests. The bench tests showed that the mechanism could complete two seedling-picking operations per rotation, extracting an entire row (eight plants) in a single rotation at a speed of 30 r/min. The measured angles of the end effector at four key postures were highly consistent with simulation and high-speed camera data, with all key posture errors less than 1°. These results demonstrate the mechanism’s high accuracy, efficiency, and reliability.

Keywords: transplanting machinery; seedling-picking mechanism; pepper plug seedlings; stem clamping and pulling; seedling-picking posture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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