Adaptive Tracking and Cutting Control System for Tea Canopy: Design and Experimental Evaluation

Danzhu Zhang, Ruirui Zhang, Liping Chen (), Linhuan Zhang, Tongchuan Yi and Quan Feng
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Danzhu Zhang: College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Ruirui Zhang: Intelligent Equipment Research Center, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
Liping Chen: College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Linhuan Zhang: Intelligent Equipment Research Center, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
Tongchuan Yi: Intelligent Equipment Research Center, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
Quan Feng: College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China

Agriculture, 2025, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-23

Abstract: Combined with the characteristic that tea is generally planted in hilly and mountainous areas and considering the existing problems of harvesting with current tea pickers, such as the inability to adjust their posture in real time, poor adaptability to the terrain, insufficient stability, and large differences in the harvesting lengths of tea. To address these issues, an adaptive canopy-following cutting control system has been designed for self-propelled tea harvesters in this study. Specifically, we developed a height-following control algorithm for tea canopy tracking and an adaptive header tilt angle control algorithm based on incremental PID control. Field experiments demonstrated that when the vehicle speed was 0.4 m/s, the height tracking errors for three harvesting lengths (20 mm, 30 mm, and 40 mm) remained within ±5 mm, with correlation coefficients exceeding 0.99. When the height differences between the two sides of the tea ridge were 10 cm, 15 cm, and 20 cm, the maximum uphill roll angles were measured at 1.7°, 2.3°, and 3.0°, respectively, and the time taken for the harvester to return to a horizontal position was around 1.7 s. During downhill movement, the maximum roll angles of the harvester were 1.3°, 2.0°, and 2.6°, respectively, and the time for the harvester to return to a horizontal position was around 2.1 s, demonstrating significant correction effectiveness. Quality assessments revealed that at the 30 mm harvesting length specification, the integrity rate of tea harvesting exceeded 79%, while the missed harvesting rate was below 1.1%. This system effectively enhances harvesting stability and quality, offering novel insights for efficient, high-volume tea production.

Keywords: tea harvesting; tea picker; height tracking; roll angle adaptation (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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