An Intelligent Operation Area Allocation and Automatic Sequential Grasping Algorithm for Dual-Arm Horticultural Smart Harvesting Robot

Abstract

Aiming to solve the problem that most existing apple-picking robots operate with a single arm and that the overall efficiency of the machine needs to be further improved, a prototype of a dual-arm picking robot was built, and its picking operation planning method was studied. Firstly, based on the configuration and motion mode of the AUBO-i5 robotic arm, the overlapping dual-arm layout of the workspace was determined. Then, a prototype of a dual-arm apple-picking robot was built, and, based on the designed dual-arm spatial layout, a dual-arm picking operation zoning planning method was proposed. The experimental results showed that in the four simulation experiments, the highest value of the maximum parallel operation proportion of the dual arms was 83%, and the lowest value was 50.6%. The highest value of the maximum operation length of the single arm was 7323 mm, and the lowest value was 5654 mm. The total length of the dual-arm operation path was 12,705 mm, and the lowest value was 8770 mm. Furthermore, a fruit-picking sequence planning method based on dual robotic arm operation was proposed. Fruit traversal simulation verification experiments were conducted. The results showed that there was no conflict between the left and right arms during the motion of the dual robotic arms. Finally, the proposed dual-arm robot operation zoning and picking sequence planning method was validated in the apple experimental station. The results showed that the proportion of dual-arm parallel operations was the lowest at 50.7% and the highest at 72.4%. The total length of the dual-arm operation path was the highest at 8604 mm and the lowest at 6511 mm.