Fruit Phantoms for Robotic Harvesting Trials—Mango Example

Rafael Goulart (), Dennis Jarvis and Kerry B. Walsh
Additional contact information
Rafael Goulart: Institute for Future Farming Systems, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton 4701, Australia
Dennis Jarvis: School of Engineering and Technology, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton 4701, Australia
Kerry B. Walsh: Institute for Future Farming Systems, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton 4701, Australia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: Experimental trials on the performance of end-effectors for the automated harvest of soft fruit are constrained by seasonal limitations on fruit availability and fruit perishability, necessitating the use of different sets of fruit across time. Consequently, the use of fruit and stalk phantoms, rather than real fruit, is an attractive proposition. In this paper, a process for the cost-effective production of stable fruit phantoms using silicone (polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS) and starch was presented. A preliminary consideration was also presented for the creation of a phantom fruit stalk, involving a wooden dowel or a magnetic latching. Mango fruit phantoms were benchmarked to mango fruit in terms of density, firmness, brittleness, etc.

Keywords: gripper testing; mango; model fruit; model stalk; PDMS; robotic harvesting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/3/1789/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/3/1789/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:3:p:1789-:d:1038861

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().